Solstice
by Pokahydee - Nekoyasha
Summary: On her first trip in five years, Kagome is drawn to a strange shrine buried deep in the forest that tries to suck the life out of her. Now all the animals have gone crazy and are attacking people! On the night of the winter solstice all hell breaks loose!
1. Prologue

**Solstice**

**Notes**: 9 Pages / 5,363 words. So I started this story because I'm having a little bit of writer's block on Kurayami no Naka de Hikari. I suppose I'm just not really sure where to go with it. It took me a bit to get a title, but I think I found a fitting one for this story (it will come into the story a little later as to WHY it's fitting). I'm hoping this type of story hasn't been done before; I haven't really come across anything like this so I'm hoping it's somewhat original. This is definitely an AU story. I'm not sure how long it will be or how often I will update. Sorry, not beta on this, spell-checked but it may have missed things.

I created a Twitter account that's associated with my stories. If you want to know more details about progress/process on my stories, go Follow me. Username is Pokahydee_chan (I have another account, Pokahydee, but that is my every day general one and it's sadly neglected). There is a link to it on my Profile.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters thereof. Even though that is the case, please don't steal my plot, concept, or story out of respect for my creative endeavor as I would not do this to anyone out there.

- l - l - l - Change of scene, time, etc.  
'Thoughts/dreams' will be in single quotes (IE: ' ')

**Prologue**

A young college woman woke with a groan and slapped the buzzing alarm next to her head for the fifth time that morning. She just wasn't ready to wake up just yet even though she had one more final to take before the two week break between semesters. Her last test was for her General Psychology class that had 500+ people enrolled in it. She really hated taking classes that were required when they had nothing to do with her major. She had to admit that psychology might be useful as a teacher, but she just couldn't seem to see what she could take away from a class that size. It seemed like a waste of time and money, two things of which she was sorely lacking at the moment.

Another annoyed groan escaped her throat as her phone went off on the night stand next to her head. Her best friend had perfect timing... The girl was always up with the sun and super cheerful. She was the one that made sure neither of them arrived late to class. As much as she loved her best friend, the early morning cheerfulness was extremely annoying and made her pull the pillow over her head to block out the obnoxious ringtone that perfectly described her cheery personality.

When the knocking on her door started, she sighed in defeat and rolled out of bed to answer it. Not caring that her hair was mussed from sleeping and she was in her pajamas, she padded quietly to the door and opened it.

"Can't you be like any normal college student and sleep in for once?" She asked as she stifled a yawn and let her shorter friend into the room.

"Then who would make sure you got to class on time, Sango-chan?" Her friend asked with a giggle. Kagome was a very friendly young woman with the most stunning hazel eyes that looked dark brown but had noticeable flecks of green and a dark green ring around the edge of the iris. She had somewhat unruly ebony hair that hung to her mid-back in completely natural waves.

"You know if we're late we won't get a copy of the exam and it's fifty percent of our grade." Kagome continued as she readjusted her large yellow backpack that was hanging from her arm.

"I get it, Kagome-chan, but you know I'm not awake yet." Sango said and to illustrate her point, flopped back down on her bed with a jaw-cracking yawn and yanked the blankets over her pajama-clad form. Sango was several inches taller than her friend with large auburn colored eyes that were deep reflective pools. Her hair was long and straight down to her butt and a deep brown that almost looked black until you saw her in the sunlight.

"Well you'd better get awake or I'm going to have to eat all the muffins I baked this morning." Kagome said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small Tupperware container and popped the lid off. Sango groaned and threw her blankets off as the scent of strawberries and blueberries filled the room.

"No fair! You know all of my weaknesses!" Sango whined as she finally conceded to wakefulness. Kagome plopped down on the end of Sango's bed and set the container between them. She reached into her bag and pulled out a metal thermos next and poured coffee into it before handing it to her half-awake friend.

"You are such a lifesaver, Kagome-chan." Sango said as she took a sip of the coffee, it was sweetened just the way she liked it with a hint of milk. It was a good thing the two of them shared the same taste in coffee, it made for sharing to be really easy.

"Here's to the end of finals!" Kagome said as she held a muffin in the air in a mock 'toast'.

"Good riddance to finals!" Sango said with a laugh as she held her blueberry muffin up with a big bite out of it already.

- l - l - l -

"I can't believe you didn't save me any muffins." Miroku pouted as the tall young man left the crowded auditorium with his two best friends. He pushed a loose strand of ebony out of his uncommon prussian blue eyes. The rest of his hair was pulled back in a short ponytail at the base of his neck and was as black as pitch.

"Don't worry, Miroku. We'll just have to get Kagome to make her patented muffins when we leave for our trip tonight." Sango said brightly as she slung her bag onto her shoulder.

"But I can't go, remember?" Kagome said with a sad sigh. It was a well-known fact that Kagome's family tended to struggle to get by. The poor girl had been working since she was fifteen years old to help her mother pay the bills. She was as much a mother to her little brother, Souta, as her mother was having practically raised the kid while their mother worked two jobs.

Kagome's father had been sick for a very long time and when he passed away, all that he left was memories and a pile of medical bills that might never be paid off. If you add on top of that, her ailing grandfather's medical bills, paying for school for her and Souta, plus the regular bills to keep the run-down shrine going, it amounted to a substantial amount. If Kagome hadn't been such a good student through high school, she wouldn't have gotten the scholarship that allowed her to go to college.

As it was, Kagome was still working full time to help support her family and hadn't been able to get the full college experience because she was forced to live at home and commute in to school. There was something magical about Kagome, though. Throughout all of the hardships, she always kept a smile on her face, a spring in her step, and a positive outlook on life. Her motto was 'when life gives you lemons, make the best damn lemonade you've ever tasted'... well, minus the cursing anyway. She had to be a positive role model for her little brother, after all.

"Remember when we said we had one more birthday present that was a surprise?" Miroku asked with a huge grin on his face, violet eyes twinkling in excitement at the surprise.

"Huh? I thought you were joking." Kagome said as a surprised look filled her face and her cheeks flushed slightly.

"Surprise!" Both Miroku and Sango said together as Sango pulled a train ticket out of her coat pocket and shoved it into her hands.

Kagome's mouth dropped open as she stared at the ticket in her hand. She hadn't been on a trip since she'd been a little kid and her father had been healthy. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to think of something to say. She was used to being disappointed when school trips came along because even if she could get time off work, they didn't have the money to send her.

"This is... is too much..." Kagome finally said quietly as she looked down at her feet, bangs covering her eyes as she tried to find a way to give the ticket back without being rude. She simply couldn't accept something this incredibly expensive as a trip up north to the hot springs. Those places cost a fortune for one person, let alone three. "I-I'm sorry... I can't get time off work..." She said as she made to pass the ticket back.

"Heh, you're not getting out of it that easy, Kagome-chan!" Sango said as both she and Miroku gave their shorter friend triumphant grins. "I talked to your boss and since you've been such a hard worker for such a long time, he's giving you two weeks paid vacation time!"

"N-no way!" Kagome said as her mouth dropped open in shock and her eyes bugged out of her head. "He NEVER gives anyone paid vacation time!"

"I think it helped that he's had a crush on you since middle school." Sango said with a wink as she shoved the ticket into Kagome's jacket pocket.

"I'm really going?" She asked slowly as she turned her hopeful look to her two best friends. At their joint nod, a bright smile lit up Kagome's whole face and she launched herself onto her friends into a tight hug with tears glistening in her eyes. "Thank you guys SO much!"

- l - l - l -

That's what found Kagome with her face pressed up against the window of the train as the scenery flew by at high speed several hours later. She had been on public transportation, the bus service and the subway service, but this was the first time she'd ever been on a real train in her life. She was completely fascinated about how quickly the snow appeared once they got outside of the city and continued to head north. She wasn't a stranger to snow, just a stranger to seeing it piled so HIGH.

"Kagome!" Sango said loudly, making said girl jump in surprise. She'd been trying to get her attention for five whole minutes, but her gray eyes were transfixed on the ever-changing scenery. "Have some cocoa." She said as she pushed a steaming styrofoam cup into her hands.

"Thank you, Sango-chan!" Kagome said brightly as she took a sip of the hot liquid and promptly burned her tongue. "Owow-ho-hottt!" She cried as she opened her mouth and stuck out her burned tongue. Sango couldn't hold back her laughter at Kagome's childish antics. "S'not funny..." Kagome mumbled as she leaned back in her seat and a light pout touched her lips.

"I'm sorry, Kagome-chan." Sango said between giggles as she clutched her own steaming cup of cocoa. "It's just; I haven't seen you so excited about something in a long time."

"I'm so excited! I've never been to a real hot spring before AND I don't have to worry about taking time off of work. This is the best present anyone's ever given me!" Kagome cried as a bright smile lit up her whole face. She literally looked like a kid on Christmas with her eyes holding the same magical twinkle.

"It looks like we'll be to our stop in about two hours." Miroku said as he plopped down next to Sango and promptly grabbed her cocoa for a nice swig.

"Aa-ita-itai!" He whined as he fell into the same trap as Kagome.

Sango merely rolled her eyes at his goofy antics and Kagome couldn't help but fall into a fit of giggles as Miroku looked at Sango teary-eyed. Kagome had been friends with Sango since grade school and they were so close they considered each other sisters. They somehow met Miroku during middle school and even through all his failed attempts to hook up with Sango, it had never happened. That definitely didn't dissuade him from trying, though.

"Sango-chan! Kiss my boo-boo better!" Miroku said as he held his burned tongue out of his mouth and leaned into the tall, ponytailed woman.

"Miroku, I swear if you don't back up, I'm going to hit you so hard you'll think you're in grade school again." Sango growled with a fist raised and a vein throbbing in her forehead.

"Aww, but Sango-sama-" His statement was cut short as the resounding crack of hand meeting cheek rent the air. Kagome couldn't help the infectious giggle that bubbled out of her at their behavior. She knew they really did care about each other, Sango was really shy when it came to men and Miroku was way too flirtatious when it came to the women so they had never seen eye to eye enough to breech the barrier of friendship. There was definitely a lot of flirting and teasing that would go back and forth, and also Miroku would get a little free with his hands too much for Sango's liking. He would grope her on a regular basis and both girls were truly amazed that he had no lasting brain damage from all the punishment he would take for said actions.

With a happy smile, Kagome turned back to the window and leaned her elbow on the window frame so she could watch the scenery fly past. Nothing would ruin this amazing trip she was taking with her best friends.

- l - l - l -

"Wow! It's so big!" Kagome cried as she dropped her bag and ran into the room. It was a traditional inn that they had chosen with beautiful hardwood floors and sliding shoji doors. There were no beds, just traditional futons that were folded neatly in the corner.

Kagome slid across the floor to the door in the back of the room and slid it open to take in the view. Spilling out behind the room was a beautiful Japanese garden covered with an unbroken, twinkling blanket of the purest white that reflected the pale moonlight, making it appear brighter than it truly was out.

"It's amazing!" Kagome squealed as she breathed in the crisp air and stepped onto the back porch to better appreciate the peaceful scene before her. She was tempted to step off the porch and walk through the pristine winter scene but stopped herself when she realized she was only in a pair of socks.

"So, how about we check out the hot spring?" Sango suggested as she set her bag with Kagome's next to the door.

"Yeah, I hear the have a co-ed one." Miroku said with a sly smirk as he followed Sango into the room. Both Kagome and Sango looked over at him with horrified expressions and bright red cheeks.

"You freaking pervert!" Sango cried as the all too familiar 'crack' of her palm to his cheek filled the air.

- l - l - l -

Much to both Kagome and Sango's discomfort, it turned out that the co-ed spring was the only one open at the moment. Apparently, there was a sanitation issue in the two reserved for only men and only women. They didn't ask for details, but apparently it had something to do with a few old people that had been out there the previous weekend at a retreat. Kagome REALLY didn't need any elaboration on that.

Both girls were wrapped in white towels and huddled together across the spring from Miroku and his wandering hands. Every time he would try to sneak up next to them to get a cheap feel from Sango, said girl would lay the law down with her hand; and on a few occasions, when she became severely annoyed, with her fist.

The one good thing about the evening is that they were the only three people in the hot spring at the moment so they didn't have to worry about any dirty old men, just one dirty young man. One whose tactics they were well aware of so were easily avoidable. When they weren't ducking away and messing with Miroku's head, they were just relaxing and talking idly about whatever came to mind. Mostly, they returned to talking about school and how happy their exams were done and they could finally relax. Not to mention how they thought they did on said exams, which were for the most part, decent. The only ones they may not have done as well on were the typical required courses that were only vaguely related to their chosen majors.

"So is there anything else to do our here besides this?" Kagome asked after they'd been in the water for quite some time. It was undoubtedly very late and while the three of them were exhausted, they were all too wired from the end of tests to turn in any time soon.

"I think there are some nice trails out here." Miroku said conversationally as he took a sip from a bottle of beer that he'd sat in the rocks near his elbow. "It was advertised on their website."

"That actually sounds like fun." Sango said sounding slightly surprised as she looked though the steam at him, she turned away with a slight blush when she caught a glimpse of his well-toned chest above the water.

"As long as you lead. You know how horrible my sense of direction is." Kagome said with an embarrassed look on her face flushed from the heat.

It was true too, Kagome could get lost with a map in her hand and google maps on her phone as she followed her friends to wherever they were going. Sango, on the other hand, was very outdoorsy and loved all things to do with nature. She was very much a tomboy and spent as much time catching crayfish and bugs as her little brother and Kagome's little brother combined. Her father had been pretty determined to teach the two of them how to survive if they were ever stranded in the wild and Sango had taken everything he taught a commit it to her never-ending memory.

Kagome loved the outdoors and could get by on a camping trip, but hiking was something she had long-since stopped doing because of her pathetic sense of direction. She had gotten lost about five years ago on a camping trip with Sango and her family at a campground right outside of the city. If Sango hadn't heard her voice echoing through the trees, she might have walked around in circles for days!

Needless to say, Sango would be there guide this time around again. She had a compass on her keychain with her house keys if she got into a jam. Though, she didn't necessarily NEED it anyway. She could tell the direction by the angle of the sun depending on if it was before or after noon. She could also tell the direction by the place MOSS chose to grow! It was really intriguing to Kagome so she made the perfect 'forest tour guide' for their little group.

"Who else would lead?" Sango said with a wink as she adjusted the towel holding her long hair up out of the water.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Kagome squealed as her ever familiar face-filling smile graced her features.

- l - l - l -

Kagome adjusted the bag on her back to a more comfortable position as she walked between Miroku and Sango along the trail. This served a dual purpose for their hike, Miroku wouldn't be as tempted to grope Kagome as he would Sango and then there was no chance of Kagome stopping to get a better look at something and getting left behind. So it was definitely a win-win situation!

"That over there clinging to the tree is poison ivy, DON'T touch it." Sango warned as she pointed out a winter-touched vine that was wrapping round and round a nearby tree. Kagome took a noticeable step to the side to make sure she didn't brush it, she was extremely allergic after all and she did NOT want to be itchy during the whole trip!

"It's so pretty out here, Sango-chan." Kagome mused as she looked around the winter landscape between dark tree trunks and snow dropping from their drooping branches. The forest was nearly silent in the early afternoon walk as they made their way down the well beaten path.

It was such a pleasant walk that Kagome didn't even complain about tripping over a root buried in snow and falling flat on her face in a relatively large drift. On the contrary, she broke into a fit of giggles when she found herself up to her shoulders in icy snow. She chucked a few handfuls on snow from her gloved hands at her friends when they joined in the laughter, which promptly launched a large-scale snowball fight in the middle of the forest.

Snow went flying back and forth as the three friends found themselves getting farther and farther from the path. There were no sides as everyone flung snow at everyone else, all laughing and cheering when someone took an especially good shot. One such cheer moment that also brought a high-five between Kagome and Sango was when while Miroku was distracted with throwing a snowball at a running Kagome, Sango managed the sneak up behind him and dump a large amount of snow down the collar of his coat.

"Coooold!" Miroku cried as he dances around on the spot and tried to dig all of the snow out of his collar. His skin prickled unpleasantly from its contact with the frozen water that was slowly melting and dripping cold water down his back.

"Good one, Sango-chan!" Kagome cried as she slapped her friend's hand and quickly ducked behind a nearby tree as Miroku managed to wing a wild toss of a snowball in her direction. Because of his preoccupation with extracting snow from his clothes, the snowball flew wildly and smacked Sango square in the face.

"...Miroku..." Sango muttered after standing stock still for a few seconds. "You have half a second... then I KILL you!" She growled out playfully as she reached down and scooped up a large handful of snow and swiftly packed it into a perfect snowball, years of practice from winging snowballs at her little brother making her an expert.

"But, Sango my love. That was an accident!" Miroku gasped dramatically before side-stepping behind a tree just in time to avoid a bomb of a toss that flew through right where his face had been moments before.

"I'll show you an accident!" She shouted as she dove toward him, scooping snow up in a smooth motion. Miroku launched himself from behind the tree toward the gloved woman, catching her by surprise from his sudden movement. Not being able to change direction quickly enough due to a slippery patch of ice covered leaves beneath her feet, Sango was tackled by the laughing man from the side right into a sizable snow drift. Kagome's laughter filled the otherwise peaceful forest as the two rolled in the snow, fighting for dominance while laughter bubbled from their throats.

Kagome watched as Sango managed to turn the tables and was shoving a handful of snow into Miroku's face as she straddled his hips in a rather provocative way. Her smile faded suddenly as she felt a strange pulse off to her right. Her head spun in the direction of the odd sensation as a confused look settled onto her features. She wasn't sure what it was, but it felt like something was calling to her from somewhere nearby in the forest. It sent strange shivers up her spine that she couldn't distinguish as being from the cold or the new sensation in the pit of her stomach. Snowball fight completely forgotten, Kagome began to walk in the direction she felt the pulse originate from.

"What is that...?" She whispered quietly as her face twisted in confusion. She brought her hand up to her chest as the pulse came again, stronger this time, and made her breath stutter momentarily. "... who's there...?" She called out softly as she began to walk more quickly toward the strange energy buried in the forest, drawing her like a moth to the flame.

Her footsteps quickened as the feeling grew stronger, pulling her like a magnet, toward what, she didn't know. She just knew she had to find where it was coming from, this strange dark wave that sent sparks of excitement mixed with dread throughout her whole body. Soon, she was running, blood pounding in her ears as her desperation to get 'there' grew stronger. Her breathing grew labored and her heartbeat sped up as her legs pumped tirelessly through the snow, the pulsing coming at smaller intervals and picking up with each staggering step she made. She was slipping and sliding on the snow and leaves buried beneath, nearly falling on a few patches of hidden ice, but miraculously kept her footing with grace she didn't normally possess. 'I have to get there…' She thought to herself as her eyes started to go out of focus, the heavy energy pushing down on her as it drew her forward. '… It's coming…' The sun was quickly setting as the air crackled around her running body, pulling her ever forward.

- l - l - l –

"You win, Sango-chan." Miroku mumbled as he lay in the snow with Sango straddling him and pinning his shoulder down with her hands. Both were panting and shivering from rolling around in the snow for dominance.

"I'm going to take my prize, then." Sango said with a sly smirk as she leaned forward, her lips just inches from his. His intake of breath made her cheeks tint with a light pink color that wasn't caused by the cold as she paused over him, not really sure if she should do what she was planning on doing. She was saved this moment of indecision when Miroku closed the distance between their lips in a gentle kiss, his hand cupping her cheek as her hair trailed across his face.

Sango's eyes bulged in surprise but she didn't fight the light contact and instead leaned in closer, pressing her lips back to his soft ones. His tongue ran along her bottom lip gently, asking for admittance into the cavern he had so longed to taste. She complied shyly and he ran his tongue gently along hers, smiling into the kiss as she tentatively tested out the sensation and meshed her tongue shyly with his.

Wanting to feel more, Miroku rolled her over once more and pressed his body against his as he deepened the kiss. So long he had wanted to do this with Sango, the only girl that truly caught his eye. The one he was afraid to seriously go after for fear of rejection or fear of altering their relationship forever. He was simply afraid that he would lose her and she would walk out of his life forever and he would never again get to stare into the auburn depths of her eyes. Never get to feel the soft feel of her skin in casual contact between friends, the rare occasion that he was able to run his fingers through her silken tresses.

Sango melted into the kiss as she felt Miroku's hands slip under her lower back and pull her closer to his body. She felt a passion she didn't know existed building within her chest as she became bolder, meshing her tongue with his, diving deeper into his mouth. This response spurred him on and his own actions grew more passionate as the taste of her made his mind soar. He ground his hips against hers as the cold disappeared and a burning warmth spread throughout his body. Certain parts of his anatomy were responding to the passionate kiss as they late wrapped up in each other on the freezing ground. Eventually, they were forced to pull apart as the need for oxygen grew too great and both lay panting in the snow, before Miroku buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in the light scent of her perfume and shampoo in deeply.

"Sango… chan…" He mumbled happily, his voice mumbled in her coat, but still audible to the young woman below him.

It took several moments for coherent thought to return to the pair and at the same instant, the same thought entered their minds… Kagome! Miroku jumped off of her quickly and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. Both of them turned away, avoiding eye contact as a brilliant blush coated their faces. Neither would believe they'd just done that IN FRONT of Kagome!

"Wait… where is she?" Sango questioned as she scanned the area and found no sign of their onyx-haired friend.

"She's gone…" Miroku mumbled as he scanned the area, trying to find any sign of her green coat poking out from behind a tree.

"Kagome?" Sango called as she took a few steps away from Miroku, worry suddenly filling her eyes. After several steps in the direction they'd last seen her, they came across a trail of footsteps in the snow heading AWAY from the path. "Oh no…" Miroku blanched as he looked up at Sango, the same look of worry in his eyes.

"Let's go!" He said as he took her hand and the pair bolted off along the path, hand in hand.

- l - l - l –

Kagome had stopped running… The strange pulsing was coming out in a rhythmic pattern, like the beating of a heart. She stood frozen before a small shrine hidden at the base of a tree, her expressive hazel eyes were devoid of any feeling and were looking forward unfocused and unseeing. Spewing out of the small shrine was what looked like black smoke that was curling and roiling around spreading out further and further with each consecutive pulse as if it was growing stronger. There were sparks running through a small bubble that was just barely visible surrounding the strange shrine and small spidering cracks were spreading along the bubble as the pulsing grew stronger.

"… Why is there… a shrine…" Kagome mumbled as her vision was going in and out of focus as she looked down at the origin of the strange heartbeat in front of her. "-way out… here…?" She was having as much trouble getting her voice to work as she was getting her eyes to focus.

A pang of fear entered her heart as she felt the black smoke surrounding her immobile body. She could feel it pulling at her, drawing something out of her and becoming more powerful in the process. The wind picked up, whipping her hair around her face as she felt her hands involuntarily moving up and hovering in front of her, wrists turned to the sky, hands fisting. She could see a strange pink light coming off of her upturned hands when she was able to focus her eyes. The brilliant pink light seemed to be engulfed by the darkness and was growing stronger the darker the sky grew above her. Her fear seemed to grow as the cracks spidered further and her eyes came into full focus of her surroundings.

A slash of light lit up the area and a scream ripped from her throat as she felt a pain rip through her arms. She forced her eyes open against the pain and looked down at her hands, seeing a deep gash slashed across her wrists and blood bubbling up and dripping off the back of her wrists. She tugged against and invisible foe as tears terrified tears filled her eyes. Everything in her body was telling her to flee, but it was like a pair of invisible shackles were holding her into place.

"Kagome!" A muffled female voice sounded in the distance.

She still couldn't find her voice as the pain grew in her body. The feeling of something being sucked out of her grew stronger and her eyes were filled with the bright pink light that stretched up her arms and was slowly encasing her whole body. The brighter the pink light became, the hungrier the strange force seemed to become and the greater the pressure would become. She could hear the muffled sound of shouts over the howling of the wind and could vaguely make out the silhouettes of two figures standing some distance outside of the black swirling mass. She was beginning to feel faint from blood loss as her blood trickled down her wrists and dropped onto the shrine, which was completely hidden now by the black smoke billowing out of it.

With an ear-splitting scream, the pain reached a peak and a loud rushing filled Kagome's ears. The pink light blinded her vision and she could clearly hear the sound of something shattering into oblivion as the black fog closed in around her and then… only darkness…

**::FIN::**

**November 23, 2011**

**Notes**: Sorry, I realize this jumps around a bit and if it's confusing or annoying, I'm REALLY sorry. I wanted to show a little bit of background in the prologue so you could get a feel for how I'm going to build the characters. I'm a fan of the Canon couples but you'll just have to wait and see how I build the relationships within. This is HOPEFULLY going to be somewhat original in the way I bring in Inuyasha and some of the other characters. This story was inspired by a kinda freaky dream I had the other night and once I get a little further into the story, I might give a little synopsis of what the dream was about~.^

Please let me know what you think of this, I think it's a neat idea, but I'm just not sure if it's going to be catchy enough so feedback will definitely help with updates. I'm a little bit self-conscious on this particular story (not sure why even o.O). It will also determine how often I update this story since there's such a vague idea behind it… I will not put a minimum review requirement, I'm not really a fan of that, but more feedback will more than likely mean more updates.


	2. Chapter 1 Broken

**Solstice**

**Notes**: 8,552 words (Only posting words, not number of pages now since there's a discrepancy with Word and Open Office on 'pages). Anyway, here's a nice, long chapter for this story. I was trying to finish it MUCH sooner, but my life is extremely hectic right now (check out Chapter 19 of _Kurayami no Naka de Hikari_ to see what is happening to steal so much time away). Anyway, onto the story!

_Check my Twitter account at Pokahydee_chan to see the latest news about when my stories will be updated._

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters thereof. Even though that is the case, please don't steal my plot, concept, or story out of respect for my creative endeavor as I would not do this to anyone out there.

- l - l - l - Change of scene, time, etc.  
'Thoughts/dreams' will be in single quotes (IE: ' ')

**Chapter 1 – Broken**

The first thing Kagome felt was movement, a rhythmic up and down motion before pain... Her whole body felt on fire, if she had the strength, she would have cried out from the horrible feeling that ran from her toes all the way to the top of her head. The pain throbbed in time with the strange movement, sending excruciating jolts every time at the bottom of the motion.

The next thing that started to register was sound... She could hear a dull muffled sound that reminded her of being under water or having a pair of squishy yellow earplugs in. She could tell someone was talking but it was so distorted, she couldn't tell if the voice was male or female, nevermind hear the actual words. Just like an old radio, the sound began to get crisper, then fuzzier.

"... so much bloo-" She managed to catch a few syllables. "... hospi... ow..." In and out the sound came. She knew now, at least, that to voice was female. Besides that, it was oddly familiar but with her muddled thoughts, she couldn't place why the voice was familiar.

"... arm her u..." Another, different voice filtered into her thoughts. "... hypother..."

"Damn! I have no signal!" The female voice broke in angrily and time seemed to speed up as sound returned fully to her ears. With her hearing working, Kagome's mind began to pick up and she immediately placed the female voice as Sango's. So that would make the male voice she'd heard Miroku's if her memories were to be believed. He had, afterall, gone on the hike with them through the woods.

That's when reality crashed down into her firmly like a sledgehammer anr she realized that she was on someone's back and the up and down sensation had been caused by said person walking. Therefore, Kagome set out to do one of the most difficult and painful things she had ever had to do in her life... open her eyes...

She felt like she had run a thousand marathons and was finding it difficult to gather enough strength to do such a simple task. Something that was done hundreds of times in any given day, done without conscious thought. She was determined to perservere and after several minutes of struggling, finally pooled enough strength to open her eyes halfway. In the strain of trying to do such a simply task, a quiet groan escaped her throat.

The movement stopped... Kagome's eyes were out of focus... all she could see was a blur of white before her eyes. With them open finally, it seemed to be easier as she forced them into blinking in an attempt to make the image before her clearer. She heard more mumbling around her from her two companions, but was so focused on seeing something familiar that she completely ignored what was said. That is... until she heard her name said quietly and gently and felt something cold on her cheek.

"Kagome-chan, can you hear me?" Sango's voice penetrated her one-sense process and Kagome felt her face being turned by whatever it was that had laid across her cheek. Her blurry vision took in the whiteness only briefly as her head was directed in another direction. It landed on a blurry silhouette that slowly morphed into Sango's worried face as Kagome's vision snapped the focus and all blurriness disintegrated.

"Sango-chan..." Kagome murmured tiredly as she looked into a pair of worried auburn colored eyes. A relieved smile touched her friend's lips after seeing Kagome's eyes open.

"We need to get her inside, before the storm traps us out here." Miroku's voice broke in from next to her. That's when she realized that she was on Miroku's back and she also realized that she was being hit in the face with large flecks of snow. Not only that, the wind was whipping around and whistling through the trees.

"We're getting close, it should be right through that clump of trees." Sango said as she motioned behind her, Kagome's vision was clear but things were taking a few minutes to register in her exhausted brain. She was aware of a dull thrum of pain originating from her wrists, but she was too tired to lift her arms to see where the pain was coming from. She was aware that it was dark out and she was extremely cold, her teeth chattered as she lay motionless across Miroku's back.

"Good, lets get her out of the cold." Miroku replied and the two of them took off through the forest once again. Kagome felt a little bit of strength return to her and was able to lift her head up enough to peek over his shoulder and see in front of them.

She could see a dim light through the trees that was getting brighter the further they walked. It was flickering and a variation of red, orange, and yellow as they drew closer to the source. Then sound registered in her ears, the sound of yelling and screaming. As they broke through the final line of trees, a scene of complete chaos filled their line of vision and they stopped to take it in, frozen in shock an fear. There were people running every which way with the sounds of snarling following in their wakes. Kagome's eyes bulged in fear as an enormous black mass burst from around a corner and launched into the air, knocking a man down and going for his throat.

"Oh... my... god..." Sango mumbled as they watched in horror as the wolf tore the man's throat out, his cries of fear and pain echoing across the red stained snowy stretch of ground before them. They could hear more snarls and cries of pain echoing around the area, but none of them were able to move as they took in the scene before them.

"We need to hide." Miroku said as he grabbed Sango's hand and dragged her back into the woods, shifting under Kagome's weight. "Sango, wake up!" He hissed quietly as he gave the frozen woman a light shake. Her eyes cleared and she swallowed thickly as they took in the scene before them.

Some of the smaller out buildings had flames licking up the sides of them as they skirted around the small resort through the woods. They didn't know what was going on, but by the looks of it, nature had gone completely berserk and was attacking everyone! They saw several large figures barreling through the area, wolves by look of them, though they were larger and more ferocious than any they had ever seen before. They also noticed a group of crows feasting on a figure that was lying unmoving on the ground, when they picked their heads up, their eyes held a distinct red tinge. A little further along, they passed a group of what looked like squirrels that were chasing a woman who was screaming with her hands over her head.

"What the hell is going on?" Miroku hissed as they stayed out of sight just passed the treeline.

"I don't know, but we need to take cover. I don't like the idea of staying out in the woods with the animals acting this insane." Sango whispered back as she stayed close to Miroku's side, her eyes darting around to make sure nothing came up behind them or at them from the sides. For the time being, they seemed to be out of sight, out of mind. There were easier meals to get for the rampaging beasts.

"Some place elevated where the wolves can't get at us. We have to wait until Kagome is strong enough to walk, then we can get the rental car and get the hell out of here." Miroku agreed as he shifted Kagome into and easier position to carry her.

"How about up there?" Sango asked as she pointed to a small circular window nestled right under the eaves of the main building. It looked like it lead to an attic of some sort so should have few ways for anything to get in through. They'd be able to hide out until morning and sneak down to the car to get to safety.

"Yeah, I think that's our best bet." Miroku agreed with a slight nod and a determined look in his eyes. "Stick close to me, all right?" Sango nodded and moved closer to Miroku, her eyes darting around them in every direction at the same time.

Sango and Miroku took a few moments to gain their courage and to make sure the cost was clear in the small expanse of snow between the trees and the building before them. They could see a shoji door that was halfway slid open being illuminated by flickering lights on the side of the building. It appeared that a lot of the lights were out in the main building so they were hoping they could sneak in without incident. Sango looked down around her and found a large branch, holding the thin end so she could use the heavier end as a club if something came after them.

"Okay,on the count of three, we're going to run for it." Miroku whispered to Sango, who clung to his side, holding the club like her lifeline, which it quite possibly could be. "One, two, three!"

On the hissed 'three', the two of them tore out through the few remaining trees and headed for the sliding shoji door, hoping that there wasn't something horrible in front of them. Kagome felt her throat constrict and her eyes bulged as Miroku took off across the snow toward the building. It wasn't a far distance, but they really weren't sure what they were going to find once they got inside, they also weren't sure where the entrance to the attic was located. Kagome wished she had the strength to run on her own, Miroku was very exposed without his hands in case they were attacked, so therefore, Kagome was exposed as well. She couldn't defend herself if they were attacked, let alone keeping her friends safe.

"Hurry!" Sango hissed as the flickering light from the building grew closer. With a last burst of speed, they ran through the shoji door and Sango slid it shut behind them, cutting off most of the flickering light and plunging them into darkness.

"Stay close to me." Miroku whispered as they turned to look down the dark hallway. The couldn't hear anything coming from further inside the building, though the sounds of screaming occasionally rent the air coming from the outside still.

"I'll lead." Sango said as she gripped her 'club' tighter and took the lead down

the hallway.

The pair walked slowly down the hallway, being careful to avoid planks of the floor that were creaky or weak so they didn't draw attention to themselves. Sango lead the way down the hallway with her club held high, her jaw locked and eyes determined. She peeked around the corner and didn't see anything in the gloom so took a tentative step forward, eyes searching for anything out of the ordinary. The small group crept stealthily along the darkened hallway, keen eyes looking for signs of attack and also for signs of an entrance to the attic of the building.

"We'll need supplies." Miroku whispered close to Sango's ear as the stopped at an intersection in the hallway, both tentatively inching their way forward. Sango nodded slowly to indicate she had heard his hushed whisper that was barely more than the sound of a breath of air being released. She cocked her head to the left, indicating that they were going to head toward the kitchen.

Kagome's chest felt tight from anxiety as her eyes scanned the dark surroundings in the apparently abandoned building. She felt inexplicably exposed and nervous as she lay across Miroku's back prone to any sort of attack. Her arms and legs felt like lead weights and she knew they would hinder the entire group if they met with any attack. She knew her friends' were taking a big chance by dragging her along with them into the unknown. She could still hear pained shrieks from time to time echoing through the trees from outside that made her skin crawl. She was nearly ready to tell them to just hide her in the pantry since they'd just entered the kitchen, but she knew her friends would never agree to leaving her behind even if sh jeopardized their safety. She had to admit, she could never leave either of her friends behind either and would fight to her last breath to protect them.

Miroku walked across the kitchen with Sango and gently settled Kagome's tired body on the ground behind a counter in a kind of alcove that gave her a view of the door without being seen. Miroku pointed to his eyes with two fingers and then pointed at the door, not wanting to make noise and draw the attention of anything yo their slinking forms. Kagome nodded as she understood that he wanted her to keep watch while he and Sango gathered supplies in case they became stranded in the attic for a time.

Kagome stared at the door intently, the anxiety that gripped her belly more than enough to keep her conscious even though she would like nothing more than to just go back to sleep. She could hear Sango and Miroku quietly stripping the cupboards grabbing all that they could carry but never broke her eyes away from the door. She had a feeling even when they found a safe place to hide, regardless of the fatigue she currently felt, she had a feeling the adrenaline would keep her awake.

She strained her ears to hear any sound that was out of the ordinary while she blocked out the quiet rustling and clinking from behind her. She sucked in a harsh breath as she heard a quiet clicking sound on the hardwood floors and her heart jumped into her throat. The sound was faint but it seemed to be getting louder as the seconds ticked slowly by. Kagome swallowed the lump in her throat and with adrenaline alone, managed to grasp the edge of the counter above her and pull herself unsteadily to her feet. She panted from the exertion but as her eyes focused on a dark shadow that blocked the dim light under the crack of the door, she knew they hadn't gone completely unnoticed.

Before she could hiss out a warning to her friends, the door creaked open and a low growl reached her ears. She purposely swept her hands across the top of the counter, looking for a knife or something blunt that had been left out before all of the craziness had begun. To her horror, all she found was a ladle laying within reach, which she grabbed to at least have _'something'_ in her hand. She managed to release the counter, retaining enough balance to stay on her feet as she took a defensive stance.

A small sliver of light spilled across her body as the growling grew louder. A flash of gold caught her attention as a large white wolf stepped into the room, it's eyes flashing dangerously. It's head was lowered and it's teeth were bared viciously as saliva dripped from it's open mouth onto the linoleum. Kagome gulped nervously as fear gripped her chest. She took a step back and promptly bumped into a counter, jarring a large pot loose that clattered to the floor with a loud clang.

"Shhh..." Sango hissed as she turned toward her friend, a bag on her back filled to the point of bursting. Her breath caught in her throat at the menacing sight that she saw. An abnormally large, white wolf was stalking toward a shaky-legged Kagome who was holding nothing but a ladle up for defense. "Miroku!" She hissed, getting her dark-haired companion's attention. Miroku had already spun in Kagome's direction and looked grimly at Kagome's figure taking slow, deliberate steps backward as the wolf approached.

Sango reached down slowly and stealthily to grasp the large branch she had brought as a club that she had leaning up against the counter next to her. She gripped it as best she could as both she and Miroku slowly inched their way closer to Kagome. None of them wanted to make any sudden movements as the wolf slowly stalked toward them across the open expanse of floor.

"Guys... what do I do?" Kagome whispered quietly as she took a few more careful steps backward. The white wolf was still slowly advancing on her as she tried put some distance between them.

A snarl from the other side of the closed swinging door caught the attention of the white wolf as his head turned to look behind him. Kagome could see pale shadows under the crack of the door moving continually as if there were multiple beasts pacing to and fro on the other side of the door. While the wolf was distracted, Kagome made a beeline for her friends and took a place between them, leaning slightly on Miroku to keep her balance. Sango took a step forward and held up her 'club' aggressively, glaring at the wolf and daring it with her eyes to come any closer.

"We need to go while it's distracted." Miroku whispered as he stood protectively in front of Kagome and a mere step behind Sango. He had a bag bulging on his back and a large potato sack full of what appeared to be jugs of water. Making sure they had enough to drink had taken priority over food since you could go longer without food than water. Kagome had learned a phrase from CSI a while back that said you can go _'three minutes without air, three days without water, and thirty days without food'_ that was really hitting home now.

Miroku began nudging Kagome backward toward another darkened doorway while he and Sango followed suit, all three of them taking their time so the wolf wouldn't notice their imminent escape. Instincts and adrenaline was flowing as the three inched closer to the door... ten feet... five feet... three feet... one foot... Kagome's back bumped into the door with a soft thump as she reached back carefully to twist the doorknob. This, unfortunately, was enough to gain the attention of the white wolf, whose golden eyes snapped toward them. Kagome noticed a strange flash of red enter it's eyes as a loud snarl escaped it's throat and it's claws clicked on the linoleum as it began to trot toward them, gaining speed.

Kagome shoved the door open and dashed inside, Miroku ducked in after her, pulling Sango along with him. He forcefully shoved the door closed while he and Sango braced themselves against it to keep it closed when the wolf impacted with it. Kagome squeaked in fear as her two friend were thrown back around six inches when the beast collided with the closed door. They found themselves in a small pantry filled with canned food and gallons of water and something else that looked like large barrels of sake.

Kagome fumbled around clumsily as she searched for something she could use to hold the door closed. Her friends were both putting their full weight against the door but it appeared the snarling beast was ramming the door as they kept bouncing against the door from a heavy impact. The hair on the back of her neck began to raise as a shrill howl rent the air around them. It was slightly muffled by the metal door and the walls of the closet, but it was clearly coming from the kitchen they had just vacated.

Moments after the howling started, the thumping on the door stopped and loud snarling filled the air around them. They could hear several dangerous growls and the sound of a wolf yelping in pain filled the air. As strange as it seemed, Kagome thought that there was a fight going on in the kitchen and the huge animal sounded like he was losing. Her blood ran cold at the thought of that monstrous creative losing to anything and she shuddered when she pictured what could be strong enough to cause that loud yelping that kept splitting the air.

"Hurry!" Sango whispered, as she fumbled around on the door, looking for any type of latch. She took a shaky breath and forced herself to calm down. She was on the brink of panic and it was making her move too quickly and make mistakes. A sigh of relief escaped as she found a heavy latch high up on the door and slid it into place, cringing at the squeal of metal that sounded. Miroku had been searching for a lock of some sort as well and managed to slide a similar, heavy lock into place toward the bottom of the door. Just for good measure, the two of them began to slide heavy barrels in front of the door and managed to shift one of the heavy metal shelves a few feet to block it.

- l - l - l -

It had been hours since the three terrified humans had barred themselves in the pantry closet of the kitchen. Kagome lay curled into a small ball on the cold, hard floor using a bundle of kitchen aprons as a pillow as she tried to get some sleep. The loud snarling and yipping of the animals on the other side of the door had long-since gone silent, but none of the occupants of the small space were quite ready to peek their heads out the door. It seemed that these creatures were more intelligent than normal wolves. The large white one with glowing golden eyes had managed to find them and open the door to get them. Granted it was a swinging door, but most animals wouldn't know the difference unless they were a pet that lived there. A normal wild wolf certainly wouldn't have know it could just be pushed open to get at the people that were surely inside!

After the initial burst of adrenaline that she'd felt when she saw those glowing eyes stalking toward her, Kagome had completely collapsed and fallen into a deep and restless sleep. She kept seeing the scenes from the area surrounding the resort replay on an endless loop in her dreams.

If her fatigue and night terrors weren't bad enough there was also the bitter cold to contend with. It seemed like at some point in the early hours in the morning, the power had gone out and they were plunged into pitch black. The cold had slowly been seeping into the tiny room since then. They, luckily, had plenty of warm clothes and all the trimmings for winter, that didn't prevent the cold from seeping deep into their bones, though. They were, thankfully, not exposed to any wind or else that risk of hypothermia and frostbite would have sky rocketed.

Miroku and Sango had been sleeping in shifts since they had barred themselves into the supply pantry the previous night, giving Kagome a chance to recover from whatever it was that had happened in the forest. They were completely clueless as to what had happened, but had a sneaking suspicion that whatever was wrong with the animals was as a result of it. They had concluded that some sort of weird _'ritual'_ had happened to their friend against her will but were drawing a blank as to what _'caused'_ the ritual to take place.

Kagome rolled onto her other side, looking for a softer spot in the floor so maybe she could get rid of the crick in her neck. Sango had woken her up periodically during the night to make sure she nibbled some of the food they'd grabbed and to keep her hydrated. She also seemed to be afraid that Kagome wouldn't wake up because of the blood loss. She felt a bit light-headed, but mostly she was just completely exhausted and was having trouble keeping her eyes open for any length of time.

"Do you think we should try to make a break for the car?" Miroku's whispered voice broke in to Kagome's lazy musings.

"I don't think Kagome can manage if we needed to run or fight just yet." Sango whispered back, her worried gaze falling on her friend's back. "We have plenty of food and water so I think we should just hold tight for a few days until she regains her strength."

"All right. I think that's probably the best idea." Miroku said with a soft sigh. "I just don't really feel safe in this little closet. I think we should try to get to higher ground somehow. I've been thinking, I can sneak around and find the entrance to the attic and come back for you."

"That's a terrible idea." Kagome mumbled tiredly as she slowly sat up and turned a half hearted glare at the tall, dark-haired man.

"You're awake! How are you feeling, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked as she untangled herself from Miroku's jacket and rushed over to check on her best friend who had just regained consciousness.

"I feel lousy..." Kagome mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "You're not going to go out there alone, Miroku no baka." She murmured as she tired a bloodshot glare onto the tall, prussian eyed man.

"So glad to see you awake, Kagome." Miroku said with a guilty smile in the direction of the two women. Sango was fussing over Kagome, making sure she was warm enough and trying to force feed her some canned sausages saying that she needed to get some protein into her body to get her body replenishing her blood supply.

"I'm really all right, Sango-chan." Kagome said gently as she tried to break away from Sango's coddling and fussing.

"I'm just so worried." Sango said quietly as she set the can of sausages on the floor beside her. Since they were in one of the pantry closets, there was plenty of food and drinks available in case they had to remain there for an extended period of time. It seemed so cut off from the world, though.

"Do you have a radio on your cellphone or anything?" Kagome asked as that thought ran through her head. "We should call the police or our parents and let them know what's going on out here." Sango and Miroku looked at each other for a moment before Miroku decided how to answer her.

"When I called for the police, it said that the phone was disconnected." Miroku said slowly as a worried look crossed his handsome features, and oddity in itself.

Miroku was good at hiding his emotions behind a smile or a carefree expression so to be able to see the worry on his face meant that he was truly concerned. Kagome couldn't think of two people she'd rather be with during a crisis like this than her two best friends, though. She was seriously worried about her mother, grandfather, and little brother now, though. What if this spread all the way to Tokyo? Was it just the animals out here that had gone crazy, or was it all of them? Kagome shook her head to rid herself of the negative thoughts, she had to keep her thoughts positive to prevent falling into despair. Their situation certainly seemed dire right now so she needed to keep her chin up and force a smile in the face of adversity.

"It's okay, we'll get through this." Kagome said with her best attempt at her normal optimistic smile. It must have helped a bit because the tension that seemed to hang over the small room seemed to lighten up a bit and Miroku's tensed shoulders seemed to relax a bit as he leaned back against the door.

He had positioned himself in a way where he would be able to tell if anything bumped against the door. He was also in the perfect spot to hear any noises that came from the kitchen behind the door. Sango's large club lay on the linoleum beside him and one hand rested upon it, stroking the smooth surface reassuringly. He had found a large butchers knife earlier in the evening and had shaved most of the bark off of it and smoothed it out a bit to prevent splinters. He had also split the top of the wood slightly and pulled the handle off of the knife before shoving the base of the blade into the split. He had tied it firmly in place with some strong twine Sango had managed to find buried in a box under the far shelf to make it a dual weapon. There was a miniature spear on one side and a club on the other to make it a much more potent weapon for their defense.

"Have you gone onto Youtube or anything to see if there are any news reports about this?" Kagome asked curiously as she searched her coat pocket for her cellphone. She didn't have a fancy Droid or iPhone like her friends, but she could at least look up text based websites on her phone's browser.

Kagome felt stiff from laying down on the hard ground for such an extended period of time. With her phone in her hand, she pushed the power button on top to show her screen and frowned as she saw the _'no service'_ icon at the top with a slash through her reception bars. They were in such a dead spot, she couldn't even get the time. _ 'Stupid cheap phone...'_ She thought to herself as she powered the phone off to save her battery for when they got out of the tiny closet they occupied.

- l - l - l -

Time ticked slowly on and the three humans holed up in the closet grew more and more tense with each passing moment. The minutes slowly resolved into hours with few attempts at conversation. Then the hours just grew longer and longer as the temperature continued to drop steadily. They couldn't judge how many days had passed but knew to must be several and still they could hear an occasional rustling noise through the door. They heard the occasional pan or silverware being knocked from the counter to clatter onto the tiled floor. Once or twice they even heard low warning growls or high pitched yips signifying more fighting taking place outside of the door.

"I think they know we're still in here." Kagome said quietly several days after they'd been forced to take refuge in the closet. It seemed that the door was able to keep the worst of them out, for which the occupants were grateful.

"I agree, it's strange but I think Kagome is right." Sango said with a speculative frown on her face as she thought this thing over. They had all been beginning to think the same thing, she was just the first one to say something out loud.

"If that's the case, how do we get out of here?" Miroku asked as he flexed his hand, having been gripping him miniature spear tightly in his fist for days so that his fingers were stiff and cramped.

"Is there any other way out of here?" Kagome asked as she rose unsteadily to her feet. She was recovering nicely from the incident in the forest but was still a bit wobbly on her feet and would get lightheaded if she stood up too quickly.

None of them had really checked around for any other exits out of the pantry except for the normal ones, doors or windows. Perhaps there was an air vent that was big enough for them to crawl through to the outer areas of the building and to the rental car. Kagome was starting to go stir crazy being holed up in such a small room as claustrophobia started to close in.

She stood up and began to walk toward the back of the pantry through the two rows of food that lined a narrow hallway. Her eyes scanned the top of the walls and the where she could see the back wall through the stuff piled onto the shelves. There were huge cans of pickles and soy sauce as well as giant bags of rice resting on the lowest shelves, but there were no vents visible on the bare expanses of wall visible.

She tried shifting some of the large jars and cans around and only succeeded in finding a flashlight that was blindingly bright buried behind some pickled eggs that were floating in a bright purple liquid with a sticker of an American flag stamped on the jar. She clicked it off to preserve the batteries since a flashlight could really come in handy. That's when a slight disturbance in the appearance of the ceiling drew her eye.

She rose onto her toes and squinted her eyes against the dim light as she stared up at the small circle in the ceiling at the very back of the pantry. She clicked the flashlight back on and shone it on the disturbance and gasped audibly at what she saw. Her friends heard her gasp and immediately jumped to their feet, dread gripping their chests.

"Kagome? What's wrong?" Sango demanded as she picked up a large butcher knife she had found going through some boxes the previous _'day'_. They were guessing the days by the period when a little bit of light would spill beneath the door so Sango had been notching the wall. There was currently four jagged notches in the wall near the door. It was the best way to keep track of the days in their small dead-zone prison in the middle of nowhere.

Kagome climbed up onto the nearest shelf, glad that they were the heavy duty, industrial shelving units that were used in the stockrooms in stores. She set the flashlight down on the top shelf as she pulled herself up and with one heavy shove, pushed on the barely visible panel with a quiet _'click'_. The panel slowly swung downward and a ladder slid out from it that almost reached the floor. Light flood into the room from the attic as Kagome carefully climbed down the shelves, panting from the exertion when her boot-clad feet touched the ground softly.

"What do you think? Safe to go up?" Kagome asked quietly, not wanting her voice to carry into the unknown space above them.

"I don't know, Kagome-chan..." Sango whispered back as she turned her concerned gaze skyward and gazed up through the open trap door.

"I'll go up first and let you know of it's safe." Miroku said seriously as he laid a hand on Sango's shoulder reassuringly.

"But-" Sango started but cut off abruptly when she felt his soft lips on her forehead in a gentle kiss.

"Protect Kagome, she's still recovering from the incident in the forest." Miroku explained unnecessarily. Sango's cheeks were stained red as she nodded, not removing her eyes from the tall, black-haired man. It was ironic that it took the natural order of things for him to show true affection for the brown-haired girl.

Miroku strode forward, gripping his make-shift spear in one hand as he approached the ladder cautiously. Kagome edged around him and stood next to Sango, gripping the taller girl's hand reassuringly as they watched their friend slowly climb the ladder. He took a deep breath before he poked his head through the doorway and they heard a shrill screech that made the hair on the back of Kagome's neck stand on end.

"Miroku!" Sango cried as she lunged toward the ladder to grab Miroku's leg and pull him back down the ladder to safety, hoping against hope that she wasn't too late since his head and shoulders were completely out of sight. Kagome gripped her hand strongly, holding her friend back to make sure she remained safe. After a moment, Miroku's head popped down and a small smile graced his lips as he looked at the two women.

"You're not going to believe this. Let's go up here!" Miroku said in a hushed whisper as he climbed the ladder and disappeared into the attic. Kagome and Sango looked at each other, a mixture of confusion, worry, and curiosity gracing both of their features.

Sango lead the way, Kagome following behind her on the ladder. It only took a moment for Sango to disappear through the opening before Kagome too, began to ascend the sturdy ladder. When her head broke the surface, a relieved smile broke across her face as she saw a small group of people huddling in the corner of the room. Miroku and Sango were reassuring them and saying that the room they had come from was completely secure and was apologizing profusely for scaring them the way he had. Apparently, the trap door they'd come up through was covered with a rug so they'd had no idea that it was even there when they'd sought refuge in the attic.

There was a scared looking woman with two children, a little boy and girl, huddled against her and crying quietly. Another lady, presumably her friend, was sitting beside her, rubbing reassuring circles in her back as she comforted the children as best she could. Beside her was a tall, middle-aged man and a teenaged boy who's eyes shifted around the room nervously, apparently expecting more rugs to suddenly lift up out of no where. Laying on the ground beside them were a few make-shift weapons of their own. The teenager had a metal baseball bat at his feet and there was an arrangement of long shards of glass strapped to long poles and nails pounded into boards around them.

"There is food an water below." She head Miroku explaining to the middle-aged man, who's eyes lit up at the mention of food and drink. The other occupants of the room looked just as intrigued with a slight edge of desperation at the corners of their eyes. "Will you help me bring some of it up?" Miroku asked as he turned his gaze to the teenaged boy, who nodded and licked his lips.

Kagome looked around the room and noted that the windows were hung with thick, dark blankets, blocking out much of the potential sunlight that could be spilling through them. There were various cuts and bruises on the man and the teenage boy, but the women and children appeared relatively unscathed. There were a few empty cans stacked in the corner of the room and there was a bucket shoved as far from where they were sitting as possible that had an unpleasant scent rising from it. It looked like they had been going on small trips out to get food and drink in the days they'd been holed up in there, and the men had obviously been the ones doing the dirty work.

- l - l - l -

"There were twelve of us originally." The middle-aged man, Tetsuya by name, was telling them as he speared a cold, round potato with a pair of chopsticks they had scrounged out of one of the boxes on the highest shelves. "We would take turns going out on raids to get food and drink, but the wolves managed to pick them off one by one."

"So the animals are still acting unnatural?" Miroku questioned as he listened with a critical ear and was listening for every detail so he could make his own assessment of the situation.

"I'll say! They're smart too!" Tetsuya explained as he took a drink from a paper cup sitting beside him. When they had first brought up the water, the people in the attic had drank several gallons. They had been opening the window a crack and managing to gather the snow to melt into drinking water, but it hadn't been snowing so everything within their reach was pretty much gone. Not only that, the birds had picked up on this and would wait to see a disturbance with the windows and would fly in and bombard them, pecking and biting, trying to cause as much damage as possible.

"They seem to know where we come out of the attic and have been waiting for us at the bottom every time the last two days." Ryo, the fifteen year old boy explained as he shivered at the memory. "They're big and their eyes flash red when they attack."

"You're making that up, boy!" Tetsuyo hissed as he glared at his nephew out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm not!" Ryo snapped as he turned an angry glare on his uncle. Kagome could see unshed tears filling his eyes as he tried to stay strong and keep them from spilling down his cheeks. "I saw it when they got dad!"

Tetsuyo didn't answer as he turned an annoyed look on the boy. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it after a moment, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he decided not to pursue the argument. It appeared he didn't want to add salt to the boy's already unbearable wound. Kagome felt a pang of fear grip her chest as she thought of her family all alone on Tokyo with no protection. She said a silent prayer for their safety and then pushed them to the back of her mind so she wouldn't dwell on her feeling of unease and her worrying.

"Did you hear that?" Mikari piped up as a quiet scratching sound reached their ears. Everyone hushed immediately, fear because to pulse in their chests as they recalled the earlier outburst and tension filled the air.

"What is that?" Kagome whispered as she slowly rose to her feet and went to stand beside Sango's seated form.

"It sounds like something is trying to get in..." Umi said quietly as she gathered her daughter, Mikari, and son, Mamoru, into her arms protectively.

"Let's get ready." Miroku said as his features fell from their normal laid-back appearance to a serious expression of concentration and determination. He picked up his choice weapon and hefted it before tucking one of the kitchen knives they'd salvaged into the waist-band of his pants.

Kagome, Miroku, and Sango were the only ones who had had coats during the attack and had surrendered them to the children and opted to wrap up in blankets instead. Kagome swallowed the lump in her throat and let the blanket surrounding her shoulders drop to the ground. They had discussed a plan of action first while they had been eating so she knew what her mission was going to be. While Sango, Miroku, and Tetsuyo took the front lines, it was her and Umi's job to stay back and protect the children with Umi's friend Sachiko. It was secretly Kagome's job to watch Ryo's back and make sure the boy didn't get himself maimed or killed, though this was told to her on the side by Miroku. He had been horrified to hear that a fifteen year old had been allowed to go out of the relative safety of the attic when they had gone for supplies and vowed to keep an extra eye on the boy so the life his father gave to save him wasn't done in vain.

"A little closer, Ryo-kun." Kagome whispered as the scratching gave way to a low snarl. It was clearing something rather large trying to get into the main entrance of the attic. They could see the trap door jiggling as it was doing whatever it was doing to get through the door. The snarling got louder and a low _'caw'_ was beginning to emanate from the same region, which sounded like a very distorted and overly large crow.

The teenager edged a little closer to Kagome, standing protectively in front of the women. Umi was crouched on the floor, letting her kids bury their faces in her chest and stomach so their crying and cries of fear was muffled. Sachiko stood protectively at her side, clutching her weapon tightly and looking like she was about to faint or puke from anxiety.

"We'll be fine, Sachiko-san." Kagome said reassuringly, but wasn't convinced herself as her belly constricted in fear as a loud banging started and the trapdoor started to bounce upward as if something heavy was pounding up against it. There were more snarling filling the air and the clatter of what sounded like beaks and claws on the windows all around them on the windows and roof tiles.

Kagome swallowed thickly as dread gripped her chest and she felt her fear skyrocket while her eyes scanned around the room frantically. Miroku and Tetsuyo were attempted to put as much weight as possible on the trapdoor to keep it close, but they were failing miserably. Sango kept readjusting her weapons to make sure they were sturdy and in the exact same place that she had just put them, an apparently, nervous habit.

"Everything will be all right..." Kagome whispered, hoping she could truly believe her own words this time around. They seemed unconvincing, even to her ever-optimistic ears.

Moments later, with a loud crashing _'BANG'_, the trapdoor flew all the way up before dropping down, the built-in ladder sliding down automatically as the door descended. Screams filled the air around Kagome and she saw a large, white _SOMETHING_ fly into the room and land on the ground with a deafening _'THUD'_. She couldn't even scream as a large ball of fur barreled straight for her, bypassing both Tetsuyo and Miroku. Without a thought, Kagome dashed forward, completely ignoring the small birds and large, strangely distorted crow that poured into the room from the open door.

Kagome reached her destination in milliseconds and forcefully shoved Ryo to the side and managed to put herself between him and the large, snarling beast that was barreling full-force toward him. She gripped the broom stick tightly in front of her and planted her feet, her resolve forming as she decided she was NOT going to let this monster past her! She was NOT going to let the two babies behind her be killed by a wild beast! She was NOT going to let Ryo's father's sacrifice be in vain!

"Come get me!" Kagome cried as she swung the broom stick as hard as she could, aiming for the wolf's head. She could see a glint of gold catch from the dim light that filtered in through the open door and her breath caught in her throat for a moment, the broom was in motion as she swung it as hard as she could. Everything happened so quickly, she couldn't catch her balance when the impact she was waiting for didn't come. The wolf had side-stepped her and before she knew what was happening, she heard a large growl from the left of her.

A silent scream left her throat as she felt teeth sink in to her wrist and pain blossomed from the point. A sharp, splitting pain that sent electric jolts of pain throughout her arm and up into her shoulder. She followed her first instinct and began to tug on her arm, trying to pull it from his clenched jaw. It didn't budge, instead, she felt her stockinged feet start to slide across the wood floor, headed in the direction of the still open trapdoor.

There was chaos going on all around her, she could see weapons flying through the air, hearing yelling and screams of fear and a few shouts of triumph. She tried to call out to her friends as the broomstick feel from her hand, the pain being too great for her to hold onto it any longer. The closer she got to the trapdoor, the more terror that pulsed through her chest and the harder she fought to free herself from his vice-like grip. She could feel warm blood dripping from her wrist to the floor, but completely ignored it as she searched for anything on the floor around her that she could use as a weapon.

"Sango-chan! Miroku!" Kagome screamed as they approached the door, being only two feet from it now. "Help me!" She felt someone's hands grip her around the waist and couldn't hold back the scream of agony as the wolf's teeth sunk deeper into her bleeding wrist. Painful tears poured down her cheeks as she desperately fought for freedom, for survival, for LIFE.

"Kagome-chan!" Sango called as she watched her best friend get dragged toward the trap door by an enormous white wolf. It was the only large animal that had broken through the trapdoor, but the birds that were flying in in droves were enough of a distraction that Sango wasn't able to keep an eye on her best friend.

Sango fought against the tide of birds that were pelting her, snapping, pecking, scratching. All of them were trying to draw blood, the snatch out the soft parts, like eyeballs, or to just pull off little chunks of flesh to swallow whole. She had never seen anything so grotesque in her LIFE! It was seriously reminiscent of Alfred Hitcock's moved _'The Birds'_, an English movie she had watched dubbed into Japanese as a child.

All the blood drained from Sango's face and an ear-splitting scream ripped from her throat as the scene folded out before her eyes. Right before her eyes, Sango watched Sachiko get dive-bombed by a flock of birds and abruptly released her hold on Kagome's waist. Before Sango could even react, Kagome was pulled through the trapdoor, screaming for help as she disappeared from view.

"Sangooo! Mirokuuuuu!" Kagome's voice shrieked from far away, being nearly completely muffled by all of the commotion from the fight taking place around them.

"Noooo! Kagome-chan!" Sango shrieked as she forgot everything and bolted for the open trapdoor with every intention of diving through the hole and going after the bastard wolf who had dragged her best friend away.

"No! Sango!" Miroku's voice didn't even penetrate her thoughts as she ran for the door. Neither did the feeling of a strong pair of arms holding her back from the opening. All she could think of was her friend and her, surely, impending death and the desperate NEED to bring her back and protect her from all of the harsh things in the world. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she saw no sign of her best friend on the floor below the trapdoor except for a large pool of blood that was streaked as if something very large had been dragged off from the same spot.

**::Fin::**

**December 15, 2011**

**Notes**: Well, that's it for this chapter! I really love the idea for this story, I hope more people decide to read it, I think it's relatively original and haven't come across anything like this since I've been browsing around and reading fanfiction in this genre.

On a personal note, my life is steadily righting itself^^ My daughter will be staying all weekend with me here at the battered women's shelter instead of with her Foster family. As soon as I get my apartment fixed up and get daycare set up and ready to go, the courts are allowing her to come back home permanently so I'll have my baby girl for the holidays!

**Review Responses**:

**HopelessRomantic183**: I'm so glad you enjoyed the interactions between them! I wanted to show how strong their friendship was and how much of a bond they all have. I'm also glad you think this is original, I was really going for originality on this particular story because there is so much repetition throughout the Inuyasha fanfic community. I'm probably going to go back and forth on updates between this and Kurayami no Naka de Hikari so updates may be sporadic on both of them^^

**Anonymous**: You're entitled to your opinion. I agree that this may not have been my strongest prologue, but I did have a purpose for the way it's written when I did. I wish you had elaborated on why you think it's terrible so I knew how I could improve and make this a better piece of writing.


	3. Chapter 2 Building Tension

**Solstice**

**Notes**: _7,600 words_ – Woohoo! I added another chapter of this story, I really LOVE the concept for this story, I just wish it had sparked more interest. I'm kind of disappointed by the lack of response (and the one negative review I received, though I didn't take it's contents seriously, I know this story isn't poorly written). Anyway, I'm going to work on Kurayami next so keep an eye out for that. If anyone that reads Kurayami is curious about the status of the issues going on in my personal life (this is posted at the end of Chapter 19a, I think has it labeled as Chapter 20), my daughter will more than likely be home for good on January 20th! I'm SO excited!

_**Curious about the status of my stories?** - Look me up on Twitter under Pokahydee_chan to get and up-to-the-minute status of my writing._

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters thereof. Even though that is the case, please don't steal my plot, concept, or story out of respect for my creative endeavor as I wold not do this to anyone out there.

- l - l - l - Change of scene, time, etc.

'Thoughts/dreams' will be in single quotes (IE: '')

**Chapter 2 – Building Tension**

Kagome screamed as she felt her body falling. The echoing cry cut off abruptly when she struck ground... hard! All of the air in her lungs rushed out upon impact so she didn't have the ability to scream when she felt a strong jaw latch onto her upper arm and drag her forcefully across the hardwood floor.

She was dazed and completely confused as she fought to pull air into her prematurely deflated lungs. About the time she saw spots before her eyes from lack of oxygen, a blast of icy air hit her and she managed to gain the strength to roll onto her side. She drew a ragged breath into her aching lungs as she tried to rid the feeling of panic that came with the inability to breath _(AN: this happened to me when I took an elbow to the chest in soccer... VERY scary...)_

Kagome shakily rolled onto her knees, drinking in the frigid air that now filled her lungs and just vaguely noting that there was snow underneath her hands as she knelt on the ground. She gasped in fright as she heard a persistent growling next to her and looked up to see the white wolf growling menacingly at something that was, apparently, behind her. She turned slowly, dreading what she was going to see and bit back a cry of fear as she saw a pack of around six wolves standing behind her.

She rose up onto her knees instinctively and slid back until her shoulder blades hit something solid that effectively blocked her escape route. So... her choice was to either get eaten by the large, white wolf, who suddenly looked slightly undersized next to the massive brown wolves. Or get torn to shreds by a whole PACK of wolves, since they were obviously not of the same pack. From what she could gather, the largest brown wolf, who had strikingly blue eyes, was stepping forward to challenge her golden-eyed captor. She shrunk back to appear as harmless as possible and couldn't help the shrill cry of pain that ripped through her body as she felt a pair of teeth sink into her hip.

"... Please... no..." Kagome begged as she felt the fearful tears sting her eyes. She didn't want to die without knowing how her family was. She didn't want to die away from her best friends. Hell... she didn't want to die at ALL!

She squeezed one eye open when she didn't feel another strike and stared dumbfounded at the scene before her. The white wolf, with her blood dripping lazily from his muzzle, was standing over her and growling menacingly at the larger wolves with a predatory glint in his golden eyes.

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she took in how PROTECTIVE the white wolf was behaving. She wasn't sure if it was protecting her or protecting his meal. It made sense that if a stronger opponent showed up, he would relinquish his kill and wait until they were finished then come back afterward for any leftover scraps. This much she had seen on the animal channel at home, but this behavior was odd to her. No matter that he, she was assuming it was a 'he' because of his immense size, was badly outnumbered, but he was still standing in front of her as a shield from the larger, slobber-dripping wolves before her.

She began to feel around on the ground around her, sinking her fingers into the loose snow as she searched for any sort of weapon she could use to defend herself. She ignored the freezing cold substance as she scooted back as much as she could against the wall. A pang of triumph shot through her body as her achingly cold fingers closed around something smooth and round that felt like a broomstick or something similar. Moving slowly, she began to pull the stick out from under the bottom ledge of the 'wall', which she now realized was a fence. As discreetly as she could, and with no sudden moves, she brought it around in front of her, still buried in the frigid snow.

She looked up sharply as the snarling grew louder and her eyes bulged out of her head as she saw the largest of the brown wolves lunging toward her. She flattened her back against the fence and yanked the broomstick out of the snow and held it up defensively. She didn't know exactly what she was going to do, but she knew she wasn't going to go down without a fight. What she didn't expect was for the white wolf to leap at the charging wolf and attack with his own vicious snarl.

Kagome watched were her mouth slightly agape as the two wolves battled it out. There was a series of snarls as the two animals tore into each other with razor sharp teeth and claws. Chunks of fur went flying and crimson droplets stained the pristine blanket of snow as the two animals quickly drew blood in their battle. She slowly rose to her feet, shivering from the cold and wishing she still had the down-filled jacket she had given to one of the children as she watched the battle play out. Despite the size difference, the two wolves seemed to be about evenly matched and both were quickly covered in various gashes and cuts, which slowly oozed blood.

With a final, painful yelp, the blue-eyed wolf was thrown back and the red-stained white wolf stood victorious, snarling his victory as if daring any of the other five wolves to attack. The large brown wolf slowly rose to his feet, licking one paw gingerly as he held it up off the ground. Kagome noted a flash of red go through the clear blue of his eyes that she KNEW she hadn't imagined before the large animal growled once more and turned around to head through a bush that was behind him. She watched alertly as the other five wolves, after making sure that the white wolf wasn't going to follow, trailed after their leader, growling warnings as they did so.

Kagome snapped her attention back to the bleeding, white wolf when she felt something clamp down firmly on her wrist. She wanted to cry out, but when the wolf let out a pained whimper and began to tug lightly on her wrist, she raised an eyebrow in confusion. His teeth were putting slight pressure on her skin, enough that she couldn't pull away, but not nearly enough to break the skin.

"Do you want me to follow you?" She asked gingerly as she met intense golden eyes. His eyes were oddly intelligent and his head bobbed up and down as if telling her _'yes'_, which caused her heart to leap in her chest. She felt her feet moving through the snow as the limping wolf led her off away from the deserted resort building and out into the wilderness.

She was trying to figure out just what was going on, the wolf had just NODDED to her for christ sake! Wolves didn't know what a nod meant, but this animal seemed to be able to understand her speech! Otherwise, how would it have known what a 'nod' meant? It just didn't make any sense to her, she _knew_ they weren't normal animals, and she _knew_ they were definitely more intelligent than the normal run-of-the-mill wolf, but to understand human words? That was just too much to imagine and it was making her head spin!

Not only that, but she was absolutely exhausted from the whole ordeal as the adrenaline began to drain away. For some odd reason, she didn't feel that her captor was leading her away to the dinner table any longer. His hold on her wrist was much too gentle for that to be the case. And regardless of being outnumbered and being injured during the fight, he had protected her from the larger, stronger pack that had attacked.

"Do you know where you're going?" Kagome asked quietly as she stumbled up the rocks the wolf was leading her over. It was decidedly difficult to climb when you only had one hand because your wrist was caught in the mouth of a wolf. Not only that, her extremities were now so cold that she couldn't even feel them and her teeth were chattering so hard she thought they were going to crack out of her head.

The wolf looked back with what was clearly a glare before turning around and pulling her further up the pile of rocks. He seemed to be patient as he waited for her to climb up, but she was still panting by reached the top of the stones. He paused there and let her catch her breath from the climb as she rubbed her hands together to try and bring some sort of warmth to them. She gasped as she felt something warm and moist on her hip and looked down to see the wolf licking her wound through the hole in her sweater. He made a noise between a whine and a growl when she tried to push him away, which she took as a warning and allowed him to continue lapping up the blood that oozed slowly out of the wound. She was surprised when the dull throb disappeared with the gentle ministration and her hazel orbs grew to the size of saucers as she saw the wound slowly starting to fade into a dull scar on her skin.

"No way..." She breathed as he pulled his face away from the wound and she ran her hand across the spot twice to make sure her eyes were working properly. There was a faint scar of two puncture marks with a faint red crescent moon between them left behind on her hip. "... how...?" She asked as she looked back up into the wolves eyes, as if the animal could answer her question. When he just stared back at her dully, Kagome swallowed thickly and forced her aching body back to her feet.

She didn't know how far the had gone through the forest, but surely she had to trust the wolf since he had kind of proved that he didn't truly want to harm her. Though what he could want her for was beyond her scope of imagination at this point. She was too worried about getting warm to worry too much about all of that. Not only that, but the snow had started to come down in earnest after they had climbed that ridiculously high pile of rocks and visibility was completely gone. She could only make out the wolf in front of her because his golden gaze kept flashing back to make sure she was still with him and she could still make out the blood caked into his fur.

When Kagome was beginning to doubt she could take another step, the wolf stopped abruptly and she nearly tripped over him in her mind-numbed stupor. She knelt down beside him, leaning against him for some support since her body was about to completely collapse and noted dully that he was scratching at a large rock on the ground. Curious, Kagome knelt down and using all her weight, shoved the stone back to reveal a narrow passageway beneath it. It looked strangely like a set of stairs carved into the rock so after a moment of hesitation, and of watching a white brush tail disappear down them, Kagome stepped into the stone steps, letting the stone roll back into place to hide the entrance way.

With the stone back in place, Kagome was plunged into semi-darkness as she descended down the few remaining steps. She was feeling very claustrophobic as her frozen fingers trailed along the stone walls on her way down.

Kagome was a bit surprised to see that the further down the steps she went, the brighter the light became. She ducked her head slightly when she reached the bottom step and walked into a large, open cavern that took her breath away. Growing up the walls of the cavern was some sort of bio-luminescent vine that glowed a bright green that lit the entire area before her. As she stepped slowly into the open expanse, she vaguely noted warmth kissing her cheeks from somewhere deeper within the cavern.

She stared in wonder as her eyes traveled around and fell onto two passageways that branched off from the one she was standing in to either side. She was still awed by the vine growth on the walls of the cavern and vaguely wondered where they were from. She had never seen plant life that actually glowed in ALL of her time watching the animal channel OR the science channel! And she tended to stick with the learning channels so her mind didn't go dull. She would need a scholarship to be able to attend college because of how tight finances were at home. Though she wasn't sure that would matter too much any more depending on how wide-spread this strange phenomena had spread.

Besides the vines, she didn't see anything that seemed to extraordinary about the cavern except for a small carving in the wall between the two passageways. With a perplexed look, Kagome approached the carving and ran her fingers lightly along an elaborate carving of a vicious looking dog with it's tail curving wildly around it. The minuscule carving stared out at her with piercing eyes of some golden stone and she couldn't help but swallow thickly as the intense gaze seemed to bore into her very being, seeing every misdeed and transgression she had ever committed and passing swift and harsh punishment on them.

She was drawn out of her daze but a muffled yipping sound and turned to see the white wolf standing in the doorway of the passageway to her left looking up at her expectantly. It was at that moment that she drew in a sharp breath as a riveting revolution rippled through her body as she stared down at the ragged animal at her feet. He wasn't a wolf at all! His eyes told her the truth as he looked up at her with his head tipped to the side slightly as if perplexed by her sudden breath intake, his tongue lolled out of his mouth lazily as he looked up at her. He was just a large, white dog!

She leaned down to look the animal in the face, he licked his lips as he met her gaze head-on, his gaze suddenly intense, dominating. She sat on the floor before him, sitting on her feet as she reached out a tentative hand toward him, palm to the floor to appear less threatening. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she had seen on the nature channel, which was a sign of submission among dogs and wolves according to studies, hoping to appear completely harmless.

She couldn't help the surprised gasp that escaped her throat when he leaned down and licked her wrist gently before he gently, reassuringly took her hand between his teeth and tugged her gently toward the passage he'd just come from. She stiffly rose to her feet, shivering severely as the strange warmth of the cavern slowly brought the feeling back to her numb appendages and making her muscles ache and hurt from the exertion of the trip through the forest to reach the underground cave.

Kagome tentatively followed the shaggy dog into the chamber and a small smile graced her lips when she found a futon rolled out on the floor against the back wall. The chamber was small with not nearly as much of the glowing greenery so it was dimly lit. As she gazed around the room, her eyes fell on a covered basket in the corner and made her way over to it when the dog released her wrist and lay next to the futon. She lifted the top off the basket and saw some cloth bundle in the basket. It looked to be an old-fashioned and doubtless old sleeping yukata as she pulled it out. The fabric was thread-baring and wouldn't do for sleeping in any more, but it would do nicely as makeshift bandages for her savior who's eyes she could feel boring into her back.

Moving slowly and carefully, she pulled the ragged clothes from the basket and began to tear long strips from them and laid them in a pile to her side. The cloth ripped easily as she followed the direction of the weave and she soon had a medium sized pile of 'bandages' lying next to her. As she rose to her feet to go bandage up the bleeding dog, she noted that there was a pile of red cloth underneath the moth-eaten yukata she'd used for her own devices. Surprisingly, the red fabric looked to be in _really_ good condition as if it has only been placed in the basket a week prior. She shook this vague musing from her mind as she replaced the lid on the basket and scooped up her bandages to take care of the injured animal.

He didn't make a noise as she sat down with her legs tucked underneath her and placed her bandages on the ground. She reached out a tentative hand and a small smile graced her lips as he eagerly licked her outstretched fingers, all of the tension seeming to leave his battered body. She got to work immediately and used some of the larger pieces of cloth to dab away as much of the blood as possible. She didn't have any water available to cleanse the wounds, but she'd heard that when a dog licks their cuts, it had some sort of sanitation effect. Dogs mouth _were_ cleaner than a human mouth when it came to bacterial growth, one of the many subjects that grade school students would do science projects on.

After she sponged away as much blood as possible, she began to gently wrap the makeshift bandages around his many wounds. She would wince and cringe slightly every time she heard him growl or yip in pain, but he never tried to bite or snarl at her throughout the whole process. Kagome was convinced that the dog somehow knew that she wasn't trying to hurt him and was, instead, trying to help him. He had already more than proven his beyond-normal intelligence.

When Kagome was satisfied with her medical treatment, she crawled into the futon and pulled the blanket over her, shivering still as her body slowly warmed. She noted a pair of golden eyes watching her, but felt too fatigued now to be afraid anymore. Besides, even if he did rip her from her hiding place, drag her off, and bite her, he had still saved her life. As terrified as she had been with the adrenaline pumping through her veins for so long, she just wanted to go to sleep.

She was surprised at how well the futon seemed to have held up, given the condition of all of the clothing filling that basket and snuggled further under the blankets, curling her body into a ball so she could get the feeling back into her hands and feet. What she didn't expect to feel was a heavy body settling around her protectively. She peeked her face out of her _cocoon_ and smiled slightly as she saw the dog settled comfortably around her, adding his warmth to the blankets. His golden eyes stared intently at her face and he was situated in such a way that he was able to see the passageway that led back out to the main part of the cavern.

At this point, fatigue took over and Kagome's eyes slid shut of their own accord. She could hear the dog's soft breathing as his warmth added to the blankets had her comfortably warm in no time and let out a sigh of relief. She fell into a deep sleep actually feeling relaxed and safe, thought a bubble of worry gnawed at her as she thought of her friends still trapped in that attic and probably worried or shattered by her abduction. The weary feeling that gripped her whole body was too great and after a few drowsy minutes, fell into a fitful sleep filled with golden eyes in the night and blood splattered bodies littering the ground.

- l - l - l -

Sango rolled over again, trying to force herself back to sleep. It had been a really horrible night... She was sick with worry over Kagome and was just praying to a higher power that her best friend was still alive. From the amount of blood that was smeared on the ground, she really wasn't sure at this point. Miroku had gone down once they'd driven the rest of the birds out and had helped to reinforce the trapdoor, but he said the blood trail ended just a little ways outside a shoji door that had a large hole through it as if something just ran right through it. He hadn't gone beyond that door because the risk was too great even though it was still daylight out. He had seen a place in the snow that was stirred up and splashed in blood as if a fight had occurred there, but hadn't been able to investigate because his current job was making sure Sango and everyone else in the attic remained safe.

Sango's eyes were puffy and burning from all of the hysterical crying from the day before. She'd spent much of that time while she grieved with her face buried in Miroku's chest as he stroked her back gently. Even with a few hours of sleep, Sango still felt how puffy her face was and didn't really care because her best friend was out there somewhere with a monster that could have either killed her or done her great bodily harm. She was afraid that if Kagome managed to escape, she had gotten lost in the woods on top of everything! Kagome really had no sense of direction so Sango was really terrified by all of the horrible possibilities.

They had been turning their cell phones on from time to time to see if they could reach some emergency service department, but even when they _could_ get a signal out in the middle of nowhere, the call would always either continually ring or would give them a message saying that the number was busy or disconnected. So basically, they were trapped in the attic until they either ran out of food and water, or were eaten by some psychotic animal with abnormal intelligence. From all angles, things looked grim...

Sango sighed and tossed Miroku's coat from her body when she realized she wouldn't be getting any more sleep. Her mind was just working too frantically, not to mention the nightmares she'd been plague with the few meager hours she had managed to drift off. She could hear Kagome's terrified scream echoing through her head even now as she sat on the floor clutching Miroku's jacket to her chest.

A tear escaped her eye and slid silently down her cheek. She wasn't one to cry often, but she wasn't able to stop herself in this instance. She had been right there when it happened, and she had been unable to stop her best friend from being dragged off screaming for her life. She leaned forward and covered her face with her hands, pushing on her eyes until bright spots danced before them as she tried to force that vision away. She felt inexplicably awful... she blamed herself for Kagome being there in the first place, so far from civilization they could rarely get cell reception! It had been _her_ idea to have this little trip! She had planned the whole thing and Miroku had just helped purchase all of the tickets and reservations, this had been _her_ doing. Her best friend was gone... and it was all her fault...

A dry sob escaped her throat that she was unable to hold back and she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her and she was pulled against a hard chest. She gripped the front of Miroku's shirt and buried her face in the warmth as she shook with silent sobs. They had all been refraining from making too much noise so they could avoid notice. Since that wolf had broken in the previous day, they had not been bothered, thankfully. That's not to say that it could change at any time, though.

Because of this uncertainty, they had decided that they would sleep in shifts. There would always be two or three people awake at any given time just to make sure none of them drifted off at some point during the night. They were all on edge most of the time, the tension still thick in the air even while people slept. The children would cry quietly and ask their mother when they would get to go home, but she had no answer for them. They were truly trapped in this small resort in the middle of nowhere with no means of escape. Even if one of them could get the keys for their vehicle, there's no way everyone would fit and it would be _extremely_ difficult to get everyone there in one piece. There were just too many risks and unknown factors for them to make a run for the cars.

"Kagome is strong, I'm sure she's fine." Miroku whispered quietly in Sango's ear. His voice sounded doubtful, but he really hated to see Sango cry. He needed to be strong for the both of them, though he wanted nothing more than to go after Kagome and hunt down that damn wolf that drug her off. He had made a silent vow that he would kill the beast as soon as Sango was someplace safe.

"Miroku we need to get out of here." Sango whispered brokenly as tears slid down her cheeks silently. "Kagome needs us. You know she has no sense of direction. She doesn't even have a coat!" Sango said as she stifled a low sob in his shirt.

Miroku gathered Sango into his arms, running his fingers through her loose strands that hung down her back. He had been trying to formulate a plan but he kept coming back to the same thing every time. A small group would have to sneak out of their hiding place and go for help. He feared leaving the remainder of their small group vulnerable, though. Undoubtedly, the strongest would have to be on any rescue mission, but then what would the rest of them do without that strength? It definitely seemed bleak for them... what they needed was a truck of some sort, like the large ones that were used to make deliveries. That way everyone was encased in metal with the exception of the driver and probably someone to watch their back in the cab. That was the best thing he could think of, but as far as he knew, the use of such a truck was an impossibility.

"Just face it already," Tetsuyo broke into Sango's grief rudely as he finished climbing up the ladder from the pantry. "Your friend is dead, so quit your wailing before you attract something to us!"

Sango's tear-streaked face flew up out of Miroku's chest and she fixed a nasty glare on Tetsuyo as she attempted to climb to her feet. Miroku gripped her wrists firmly, not allowing Sango to go pummel the insensitive man that flopped down clumsily to the floor. His gaze narrowed darkly on Tetsuyo as he rose to his feet and gave Sango a look over his shoulder that said 'let me handle this'. Miroku was a very observant man and he hadn't missed the way Tetsuyo had wobbled when he'd gotten to the top of the ladder. Nor did miss a very distinct smell that swirled over to him on the displaced air. He walked over to Tetsuyo motioning Sango to sit and, eyes sharp and piercing, took a seat next to the man and crossed his arms over his chest.

Miroku didn't say anything for several moments until Tetsuyo let out a loud belch and the unmistakable scent of sake filled the air. Miroku leaned forward and closed his eyes as if his suspicions had been confirmed, which they had in fact been validated. After a moment of gathering his thoughts, Miroku rounded on Tetsuyo with a stern look.

"You helped with the rules we set down and yet you've broken one of the most important." Miroku said as he glared at Tetsuyo, who was pretending to ignore him. "If I could dump the sake out without endangering us, I would have."

"Shut the fuck up, it's just a little sake." Tetsuyo grumbled with a little bit of a slur. "It's not like I'm under age."

"That's not the point!" Miroku snapped in a low hiss. "If something manages to get in while you're drunk, you'll only get in the way! You'll endanger ALL of our lives!"

"Humph!" Tetsuyo said as he glared back at Miroku before pulling his gaze away and glaring at the floor. "I'm not even drunk, just trying to dull the pain." He muttered. Miroku knew he was talking about the death of his brother that he seemed to ignore most of the time.

"We've all lost people precious to us. You can't endanger everyone because of that." Miroku said more softly, letting the hard edge to his tone die away. With that, Miroku rose to his feet and walked back over to Sango and sat up against the wall next to her. Sango instinctively curled into his side, letting his hand rest on her waist as he drew her close. It seemed everyone needed an escape from their emotional burdens, but they couldn't allow themselves to give in completely like Tetsuyo had at that moment.

Everyone was burdened with the situation so unless everyone kept it together, they wouldn't make it through this situation. Sango reached up and gripped the front of Miroku's shirt as he rested his chin lightly on the top of her head. Sango bit back her tears and stiffened her resolve as she allowed Miroku to be strong for them both. She couldn't give it to despair or she would find herself giving in to other things. Once the others were safe, they would search for Kagome. A fierce protectiveness gripped her as she steeled herself for what they may find, but it was better to know what happened rather than regretting life because they didn't do anything about their situation. Sango had a feeling in her gut that Kagome still lived, they just needed to find a means of getting the rest of them to safety, then they could find and rescue Kagome.

- l - l - l -

Kagome woke slowly surrounded in a comfortable warmth and was momentarily surprised to find herself on a soft surface rather than a cold, tile floor. The air felt slightly damp too, which surprised her a bit until her eyes slid open the rest of the way and she found herself looking around a small, stone cavern. That's when memories came flooding back and the groggy early-morning fog lifted from her sleep-addled brain.

She glanced at her side and found a large, white dog wrapped around her sleeping form, adding his warmth to her blankets. She took note of the bandages that covered the poor animal and felt her eyes drop in empathy. He had gotten those wounds protecting her, after all. As if sensing her thoughts, the dog opened his amber eyes and seemed to glare at her, telling her with his gaze to stop pitying him for his wounds. She stared back transfixed for several moments before she shook her head, ridding herself of that thought. Sure, the animal was intelligent, but she was reading too much into his look.

She tried to pull the blankets off of her body and was stopped when a warning growl left the dog's throat. He'd laid his head back down on the futon, effectively keeping her blocked in the bed. She rustled around a little, trying to sneak out of the blankets without further disturbing the dog. She seriously needed to pee and she was feeling more than a little hot covered in the blankets with the added warmth of the dog. His growl grew louder and she yelped in surprise when she felt a nip on the wrist that had been gently easing the blankets aside.

"Come on, I have to pee!" Kagome whined as she fidgeted uncomfortably under the blankets. He blinked up at her for a moment, then slowly rose to his feet, drawing the blanket back with his teeth in the process as if granting her permission to relieve herself. It was Kagome's turn to blink in surprise as she just stared at the dog with her mouth hanging open slightly. The dog had SERIOUSLY just pulled the blankets back as if he _understood_ when she said she had to pee! _'No. Freaking. Way.'_ Kagome thought to herself, but had to shake herself from her thoughts as another quiet growl came from the dog.

"Oh!" She cried as she quickly stood from the futon. She laid the blanket back out quickly, not wanting to take the time to roll it just yet since she _really_ had to pee! She was also feeling decidedly thirsty from the lengthy hike through the frozen wilderness the night before.

The dog walked ahead of her, almost as if he was leading the way, so she obliged him and followed him back out into the main chamber. She blinked into the brighter light, giving her eyes a second to adjust as she followed him into the other doorway. They traveled through a small passageway and she couldn't help but marvel at the refracted light that was dancing around the tunnel around her and the smell of sulfur filled the air. When the stepped out into a _huge_ chamber, Kagome couldn't help it... her mouth dropped open in pure shock at what opened up in front of her...

"No way!" She cried as her eyes bugged out of her head. "This is seriously amazing!" She cried as her eyes traveled around the chamber to see a hidden, underground _hot spring_ of all things! She wasn't too surprised to see a hot spring in this part of Japan, but an _underground_ one? She wasn't so sure she'd ever even _heard_ of such a thing! The fact that the dog knew where it was amazed her even more, _especially_ since it was obvious humans had been here at some point.

As she looked out over the water, she noted that there was a small waterfall at one end of the chamber which seemed to be what fed the hot spring. From the steam that rose up from underneath it, she had a feeling that it was cold water that was coming down the waterfall. Over to her right, she saw what looked like a man-made dam of some sort that the water spilled over into a small stream that ran off out of sight underneath a low-hanging ceiling. Not only that, but the very presence of a futon and that basket full of clothes in the other chamber was evidence enough of humans, though it appeared no one had been within this chamber in a very _long_ time!

"This is so cool..." She breathed as she headed for the spot where the water spilled over the dam and ran off into an underground stream. That looked like the best place to do her business since the water moved rather quickly so all of the waste material would be gone in no time. That way she wouldn't have to worry about the cave becoming uninhabitable. The dog seemed to have the same idea as he lifted his leg and nonchalantly relieved himself into the stream.

She followed his lead and walked over to the stream before sitting down and pulling off her socks, noting that they were still damp from the long walk through the woods without shoes. After that went her pants, which she laid out flat so they would finish drying as well. She noted vaguely that the dog turned away when she pulled her sweatshirt off over her head and folded it up, deeming that it was already dry enough and didn't need to be laid out.

She shivered briefly as she stood in the open wearing only her bra and panties, a cute pink lacy set that she had picked out on a shopping trip with Sango; not that anyone had seen the set besides her and Sango. Kagome was pretty self-conscious about her body and appearance and she really didn't have much time for boys since she was always working so hard to keep her scholarship and to help provide for her financially struggling family. She pulled down her panties and quickly relieved herself in the stream and began looking around for something to dry herself off with. To her good luck, there was another smaller basket on the edge of the stream that was hidden in the dark until she had hovered over the stream. She dug around inside and pulled out a piece of cloth that she dried herself with and then rinsed out in the stream afterward since the current had already washed everything away. She lay the cloth out next to the basket so it could dry. The fabric wasn't in much of a better state that the yukata she'd found the previous night, but it was all she had available and it would work for the purpose she was using it for anyway.

Not wanting to put her damp jeans and socks back on, Kagome decided she'd kill some time by taking a dip in the hot spring. She walked along the walkway at the edge of the spring, running her fingers along the wall as she walked. There were none of those strange, glowing vines growing on that particular wall, but she could see them growing up the other walls opposite them and up around the doorway, marking the opening easily. She walked over to the doorway and ran her fingers over one of the leaves, surprised as she felt a weird sensation run through her fingertips. She pulled her hand back abruptly when she felt a sharp spark of something shoot into her hand and bit back a cry of pain at a burning sensation that ran up her arm.

"What's with these things?" She questioned out-loud as she bit back her tears, breathing in deeply to calm her pounding heartbeat from the surprise the painful jolt gave her. Now that she stood back, she could feel something coming from the vines and her brows furrowed in confusion. She had no clue what that strange sensation was, but it made her skin prickle uncomfortably. She rubbed her arms as a shiver ran through her body and decided she would go into the hot spring to rid herself of the sudden chill that had gripped her body.

Kagome made her way over to the dam again and slipped out of her bra and panties, intent on giving them a good scrub while she was at it. She had, after all, been forced to wear them for nearly a week without a wash and was seriously feeling nasty about the situation. She and Sango would take turns watching the _pervert_ to make sure he didn't peek and would wash their socks and undergarments in a bucket of water, but since they only had a limited supply of water, they would have to use the same water repeatedly so it would quickly get rather dirty and unsanitary.

She smiled softly as she passed the dog lying lazily on the edge of the water, his gaze pointedly looking away from her as if in embarrassment at her state of dress. She laughed quietly at the thought, feeling herself silly for thinking it, but then remembering his strange reaction when she'd said she needed to 'pee' earlier and wasn't so sure she was being silly any longer.

She walked into the water next to the dam, wading in up to her waist, not caring that she was still in her bra and underwear. The bottom of the pool was smooth from years of running water and was surprisingly not too slippery, which with her lack of grace, she was definitely thankful for. She slid her underwear off, careful she didn't step into a slippery spot and fall on her face into the warm water. She shuddered a bit as the cooler air met her upper body in contrast to the warmth wetness that encased her lower half. She quickly got to work scrubbing her underwear, gently rubbing the fabric against itself to clean the item. When she was thoroughly satisfied, well as satisfied as she could be without having a washing machine or even some soap, she laid it out on the bank with her jeans and socks.

"Ne Inu-chan," She called as she unsnapped her bra and slid it off her shoulders before submerging it in the water. "Do you have a name or anything? I feel funny just thinking of you as Inu." Kagome said, not sure what she was going to call her strange savior. Though how he was supposed to tell her his name was beyond her. She just felt more comfortable speaking to him like he was human because of the unnatural silence that surrounded her and the strange feeling that he understood what she had to say. It was more of a way to comfort herself, cope with the quiet that was only broken by the hushed babble of moving water, and the worry over her family and friends that clutched at her soul threatening to reduce her to hysterical sobs and tears. By speaking to _'Inu-chan'_, she felt that she would be able to keep her sanity until all of the uncertainty of this strange occurrence as he pressed down on her mind.

She laid her bra out on the stones next to her panties and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling suddenly so very alone in the huge cavern. She wanted her mother to hug her and Sango to reassure her that nothing bad was going to happen to her. She felt tears stinging her eyes as she looked down at her bandaged wrists. The bandages had been ripped from Sango's tank top that she had been wearing beneath her sweatshirt on their hike and was now a dingy gray color from being washed out and re-wrapped around her wrists every few days. Unfortunately for their group, they had been forced to use clean water every time the bandages were washed because of the risk of infection and they had been forced to use sake to cleanse her wrists, which was better than nothing Kagome supposed, but still extremely unpleasant. She was just hoping that the wounds wouldn't get infected, they had already been draining quite a bit but other than that seemed to be sealed at least.

Kagome sighed quietly and began unwrapping her wrists, determined to give them some air and hopefully dry up the drainage. As she rinsed the bandages out and laid them out to dry with her undergarments, she looked over at Inu-chan to see him studying her. She could feel the tears trickle down her cheeks and forced a small smile onto her lips in his direction. His body visibly loosened and he lay his head on his paw and closed his eyes, apparently satisfied that she was all right.

Kagome scrubbed at her tears with damp hands, determined to focus on the here and now and make sure she did what she could do. She was safe and warm currently and she knew Sango and Miroku were extremely strong and would be just fine. She also knew her mother was resourceful and decided she would trust in her mother's ability to keep her family safe if the strange animal behavior had reached all the way to Tokyo. She bathed her wrists in the water, wincing slightly as the feel of anything touching the wounds, but she bit her lip and stuck it out, keeping her hands submerged until she couldn't stand the feeling any longer. She pulled her wrists out and sighed in relief as the cooler air touched her wounds, sending relief up her arms. She felt a pair of eyes on her and glanced over at Inu-chan again to see he was pointedly looking away from her. She bit her lip gently and noted that he was studying the wall a little too astutely for that to be what he had been looking at the whole time. It was a very strange sensation she got being in the water bare as the day she was born with the dog laying several feet away on the stony bank. She felt strangely self-conscious all of a sudden and decided to wade out into the deeper water and submerge her bare chest below the surface of the water.

**::FIN::**

**January 13, 2012**

**Notes**: Well I bet anyone who's reading this can definitely tell who _'Inu-chan'_ is now huh? ~.^ I have TONS of ideas for this story that I just need to fit into the plot in logical places, this concept is going to continue to grow. I hope more people decide to give this story a chance, if you have any friends, I wouldn't be upset if you gently directed them toward this? I'd love to get some feedback to know if my plot is intriguing to anyone except for me. I was going for unique since I haven't come across anything quite like this before. And in later chapters, more characters will definitely appear. We've already seen too pretty big characters appear, Inu-chan being one of them. I'm planning on having Shippo-chan make and appearance as well as Sesshoumaru down the road, and of course Naraku will be showing up at some point^^

**Can you guess?** Who was the other character that was briefly mentioned in this chapter? Take a guess! I think it might be a bit obvious, but I want to see how many picked up on it.

**Review Responses**:

**Mama Kat**: Thank you for taking the time to review 3 Your review made me smile! I'm not upset about that random anonymous review saying how 'horrible' this story is because I know it's not terrible. My grammer may have some errors and there may be a few typos (I suppose I don't have much free time to send stuff off to a beta reader these days^^; ), it's not to the point where you can't understand it, though. I try to follow the basic setup of dialogue so I feel it's relatively easy to follow, I think I may go a bit overboard on the descriptions, but I want to portray a CLEAR picture. And I'm glad you feel that this is a fresh perspective and goes off the beaten path, that's really what I was aiming for with this story. I've read so many stories that just follow so many cliches, and I _may_ put some of those cliché items in here, but I'm going to try my hardest to go at them from a different angle and bring a new perspective into the mix. Like I said, thank you so much for reviewing, you're the only one that did this chapter.

I also want to thank **HopelessRomantic183** for writing me a nice review for the prologue 3 Much love to you too!


	4. Chapter 3 Searching

**Solstice**

**Notes**: 13 pages | 9,150 words – There's an extra-long chapter this time around because I KNEW how I wanted to end this chapter and didn't want to rush it at the same time. I'm REALLY loving writing this story even though it hasn't gotten much attention, the plot is about the SERIOUSLY pick up the pace after this chapter, though. I know it was moving a bit slow in the first few chapters, but I was building up to this one^^ Please leave a review and let me know what you think? I really could use some feedback because I honestly have only gotten a very tiny bit so I suppose I'm feeling a bit self-conscious about this one. Anyway, on to the story! (I'll be updating **Kurayami no Naka de Hikari** next~.^)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters thereof. Even though that is the case, please don't steal my plot, concept, or story out of respect for my creative endeavor as I would not do this to anyone out there.

- l - l - l - Change of scene, time, etc.  
'Thoughts/dreams' will be in single quotes (IE: ' ')

**Chapter 3 – Searching...**

Kagome awoke with a yawn and stretched her arms above her head, trying to get the kinks out of her shoulders and back. She wasn't used to sleeping on a futon to begin with, but to sleep on one that was laid out on freezing stone ground was doing a number on her body. Especially after her week of sleeping on a hard, concrete floor in the kitchen pantry at the resort. She was beginning to miss her soft mattress and comfy comforter, but beggars can't be choosers at this point.

As far as Kagome could tell, it had been nearly five days since her new friend had brought her to the hidden cavern in the woods. At first she had been concerned with what she was going to eat, but it turned out to not be a problem. Inu-chan had been leaving for brief periods of time and bringing back wild game he had caught. She hadn't been much of a camper when she was younger, that had always been Sango, but she had INSISTED that her best friend teach her how to build a no-match fire. After three long years of failed attempts, Kagome had finally managed to perfect the art. She had been lucky enough to find some flint and steel in one of the decaying baskets that seemed to be stashed in hidden nooks and crannies in the cavern. Further proof of the time period when the place had last been inhabited by humans since they'd apparently had to use fire to cook on rather than just turning on the stove or stopping by a fast food joint.

Inu-chan was curled around her protectively, as he always was when she slept. He lifted his lazy golden eyes up as she stood, watching her as she moved across the small sleeping chamber. He yawned with a low squeak and laid his head back on his paws, but his eyes remained fixated on her as she pulled her sweater back on.

For some reason, she felt strange being unclothed, or even partially unclothed, around him. She couldn't quite place the feeling, but it felt to her like she had a peeping tom in her midst or something. She tried to do her bathing when Inu-chan had left to go catch their next meal because of the uneasiness. It was strange because she didn't feel odd getting dressed in front of her fat, male cat named Buyo. Maybe it was the strange situation she'd found herself in, or maybe it was his obvious intelligence. She really wasn't sure what it was, she just wanted to make sure she was dressed around him at all times.

There was a problem with her actual clothing, though. Between the initial night when everything had gone down, now close to two weeks ago, and Inu-chan's rescue mission, her clothes were torn, stained, and tattered. There were big holes in her sweater from when Inu-chan had bit her and other various rips and tears from their trip through the forest. Her jeans were in no better of a state and were suddenly feeling quite loose as she lost weight from the large change in diet. No more sugars and fatty foods... also no more fruits and vegetables, which she was sorely missing. She wasn't a vegetarian or a vegan or anything, but she was definitely a fan of salad and a bowl of strawberries was her favorite snack.

"I really needs some clothes." She said out loud with a defeated sigh as she put two fingers through the hole in her sweater from Inu-chan's teeth.

None of the clothes she had found stashed around the cavern had held up well enough for her to wear. Well... there was that old fashioned red haori she had found shortly after arriving, but it was really too large for her, it was definitely for a man. The fabric was so incredibly soft that Kagome was sincerely tempted to don it, mans clothing or no. Something inside of her had halted her on that urge, though she wasn't quite sure _'why'_.

Inu-chan rose to his feet and stretched before walking up to Kagome and giving her a dry look. If Kagome didn't know better, she'd think that he had just rolled his eyes at her. Kagome watched, intrigued, as Inu-chan let out a soft sigh and nodded his head in understanding at her request. Her eyes widened in surprise at the action, though she had seen him show comprehensive body language beyond what any normal dog should do.

"You're going to go get me some clothes?" Kagome asked tentatively, tipping her head to the side in thought. Inu-chan growled quietly and gnashed his teeth in a gesture that was clearly annoyance, as if Kagome was being purposely dense. A smile lit up Kagome's face and she threw her arms around him, hugging his furry body against herself. "Thank you, Inu-chan!" She cried in happiness as she positively beamed with happiness.

Inu-chan seemed to enjoy the attention and began licking Kagome's ears, bringing a giggle from the girl as she turned her head so he got more neck and less ear. Kagome had never had a dog of her own, but she was quickly seeing why people called them _man's best friend _even if Inu-chan would act a bit annoyed with her at times.

"That tickles!" She cried as she laid back against the wall behind her, fending him off gently as he continued to attack her ear with his tongue. Kagome imagined that Inu-chan was laughing as well as he switched to her other exposed ear when she pressed her head against the stone wall. Another round of giggles escaped as he continued his assault, licking any part of her face or neck he could reach.

"I can't breathe!" Kagome cried as tears of mirth streamed down her cheeks. "You're gonna make me pee!" Kagome heard a sound issue from Inu-chan that made her blush, if she had to give the sound a name, she'd say it was a doggy _snicker_.

Inu-chan pulled back after a few more giggles bubbled out of Kagome and she leaned back against the wall, panting and trying to get her breathing to slow. Her sides ached from laughing and she wiped the trails of tears from her eyes. Inu-chan laid his head in her lap, his tongue lolling out lazily as he panted slowly with a satisfied look glinting in his eyes as if he were proud of himself for bringing a smile to her face and making her nearly wet herself.

The noise that echoed through the air moments later from above made the smile drop from her lips and her blood to run cold. A long, drawn-out howl was clearly audible through the stone ceiling of their shelter and Kagome's muscles tensed in fear at the noise. She could hear a low growl from Inu-chan and found herself gripping him tightly by two handfuls of fur. It wasn't her grabbing him that had him gnashing his teeth, though. He was looking up at the ceiling with his piercing golden eyes and growling, he didn't even act as if he noticed she even grabbed him.

"Not more wolves..." Kagome whispered as fearful tears slipped slowly down her cheeks.

- l - l - l -

Sango frowned as she wrung the muddy water out of her socks. It had been close to a week since Kagome had been taken and the plan was still in the process of forming so they were, of course, still trapped between a pantry closet and an attic. There hadn't been any more breaches in their barriers but the possessed animals, since no one was sure what was wrong with them, she had just started thinking of them as if they were possessed by evil spirits. She had even tried to convince Miroku to _exorcise_ them like he'd been taught at the Buddhist temple he'd spent most of his life in. He had insisted that he didn't think they were possessed, but he had said he could feel some sort of powerful aura coming from them, though he didn't say this part to anyone aside from Sango.

Sango hung her damp socks on a shelf in front of her with her undergarments and her shirt. Lucky for her, the pervert was busy at the moment doing a bit of scouting with Tetsuyo of the building and parking lots to see if they could get their salvation running. She wore a baggy T-shirt that he had loaned her while he just wore his wife beater tank that was normally underneath it.

On a recon mission, Sango and Miroku, she had convinced him to let her come, they had found a large delivery truck that had been abandoned along the treeline. After making sure nothing was in the vicinity, courtesy of Miroku's spiritual abilities, they had deemed it safe enough to go check the condition of the vehicle. To their annoyance, the vehicle was missing the keys and neither of them knew how to hot-wire the thing. They had tried looking around in the administration office for a set of keys but had come up empty handed.

When they'd told the rest of them about the truck, a surprising thing happened. Sachiko, the friend of the childrens' mother actually knew how to hot-wire a car! She was really quiet about where she learned it and why, but she still knew how to do it. She, Miroku, and Tetsuyo were currently on their way to see if they could get it started and pull it to the back door of the kitchen. Getting everyone to it there would be more efficient than trying to protect the young ones while they made the long trek to the other side of the building.

Since they had found the truck, everyone had been extremely busy preparing to carry as _much_ of their supplies with them as possible. They had no clue what it was like outside of these walls. For all they knew, it could be complete anarchy with looting and killing, or it could be under control by the government and military and just hadn't reached the extremely rural district they currently resided in.

It had been close to two weeks as far as Sango was able to estimate and with the snow becoming steadily worse and all of the craziness they had seen in their area, it could easily be months before and military officials found them. That is, of course, if the government was still somewhat in order and not in a complete upheaval with no leadership and troops scattered and under their own direction. Military officers could easily become ruffians that used their superior weapons and training to take advantage of civilians if their chain of command was broken.

You saw it in movies all the time, which sent a shudder down Sango's spine. She was hardly accepting the fact that they were hiding in an attic from possessed creatures like people in zombie movies did. The things in those movies are just make believe! They don't really happen! But, to her horror and disbelief, every morning she woke to find herself in Miroku's arms lying on some thin blankets in an attic proved that she wasn't dreaming and the memories that would return were real and irrefutable.

She could hear quiet footsteps above her in the attic as her fellow occupants found creative ways to package up all of the food that they could. They would bring all the bags down right before they had the truck ready to go. They didn't want to clutter up the pantry closet in case they needed to make a quick getaway in the event of an emergency. Though they did have an emergency stash ready to the side in the pantry. Enough for each person to carry that would sustain them for a week or so, but not so heavy that they would be slowed down by the weight.

Sango sighed and stood up, annoyed with that lack of amenities like a washing machine and dryer. That meant she would have to wait however long it took for her clothes to dry. She pulled on a white robe she had scrounged on one of their recon trips. They had managed to find a few articles of clothing that weren't completely fouled by the rampaging beasts, but they really hadn't come across much. They hadn't wandered as far as the rooms that would be rented out, though. Those were bound to still have clothing, but they were near the hots springs and had only really come across a few robes and a few fluffy, white towels. Most of the towels had either been made into bandages for wounds or were behind tied around supplies as make-shift bags so they could transport everything.

Sango went to the ladder and climbed up quickly and quietly. It had been ingrained in everyone, the poor children included, that they couldn't make a lot of noise. The crazed animals were no longer waiting at their two exits, though the pantry cabinet was rarely used as an exit since they didn't want to draw any attention to it. They had planned to set off a diversion at the attic ladder to draw any of them toward it while they snuck out the pantry since there would, undoubtedly, be some drawn by the sound of the truck starting up. They wanted to make sure their actual escape route was as much of a secret as possible even if it increased the risk when they used the same one for recon.

Sango smiled softly at the forms of the sleeping children when she climbed through the opening into the attic. It was so sad for the poor kids, they had been forced to grow up and face a harsh reality of this new world. They weren't allowed to run and play anymore and most of the time, they just sat around with haunted looks in their eyes. Neither of them spoke often and they didn't wander far from each other or from their mother. The poor dears had been severely traumatized and even when Sango had managed to find a few toys for them to play with, they hadn't really shown an interest in them. They would stare off into space and occasionally snuggle into their mother's arms and softly cry. It broke Sango's heart to watch.

She sat down near the window and picked up a knife and a broomstick that had been set carefully on the windowsill. She brought the blade to the end of the pole and resumed her previous action as she drew it slowly down the wood, shaving a thin piece of wood off. She had a nice spike already on the end, but she wanted to make it a little sharper before she covered it in the sheet metal they had found slid underneath one of the cupboards in the kitchen.

They had managed to find a few gas lanterns and a propane grill hidden away in the kitchen. Sango planned on heating the sheet metal as high as she could once she wrapped her makeshift spear so she could harden the metal and make it a more effective weapon. Though she would really prefer something large and blunt. She envisioned herself throwing a massive boomerang that sliced through everything in it's path and couldn't help a quiet laugh at the ridiculousness of such a weapon.

Sango was thankful for the kendo lessons she had taken with her brother, Kohaku when they were younger because it would likely come in handy at some point. She hadn't been too excited about the prospect since she was already such a tomboy and didn't really fit in with the females in her school and begged her father to let her take dance or something instead. He had insisted that she and Kohaku had needed some sibling bonding time and that this was a nice way to learn discipline and to take out her frustrations at the same time. As always, her father was right and she was silently thanking him for his insistence as she blew some dust off the edge of her spear.

Sango had managed to find a small toolbox buried under one of the sinks and pulled a piece of, rather worn, sand paper out so she could smooth off any rough edges of her new weapon. It was still long and had a spear point on either end so it could work as a staff as well as a spear from either end. Now all that was left was to cover the end with the sheet metal and hope she could heat it up enough that it would seal nicely and temper it a bit so it was hardened to make it deadly. She didn't want the metal to slide off the first time she tried to use it, that would be a complete waste of time and would leave her at a disadvantage since she would be relying on this weapon.

She tensed instinctively when she heard a quiet scratching sound on the trapdoor up into the attic and gripped her spear tightly. She relaxed when a moment later she heard the familiar tapping pattern they had chosen for today to signify they were ready to come in. They changed it every time someone went out because of the amazing display of intelligence from the animals. They were trying to be as careful and thoughtful as possible in case one of those crows that had broken in heard them using the rhythm to trick the humans into allowing them entrance. Tetsuyo had argued against changing it, saying there was no way the animals were that smart. He was easily overruled by the rest of the occupants who weren't taking any chances, even if they were wrong, it wouldn't hurt to err on the side of caution.

Sango hurried to the trapdoor and undid their secured latching system before allowing the ladder to slide down. Miroku, Sachiko, and Tetsuyo climbed up quickly and silently and they redid all of their security measures just as silently. No one spoke until the last restraint was in place, only then did the unnatural tension in the air relinquish a bit and everyone let out a breath they had been holding.

"So? Were you able to get it going?" Sango asked quietly, not wanting to wake the children. Their mother, Umi, was listening raptly as well while Ryo, the teenage boy, was sound asleep for the first time in days. The poor kid was pale and haggard, and was deathly thin and quiet most of the time. He seemed on the verge of breaking down and turned inward on himself.

Sango knew he blamed himself for Kagome being taken by the white wolf and she tried to tell him otherwise. The poor kid had already lost his father, his uncle seemed to be trying to drown his sorrows in sake whenever he could sneak a sip without Miroku catching him, and now he blamed himself for Kagome being taken because he had been in charge of protecting the women and children. Sango couldn't bring it within herself to tell him that Kagome had been protecting him at Sango's request! She was the one to blame for Kagome being dragged away, no one else.

"Yes, it has enough fuel to get to the nearest town and maybe a bit beyond." Miroku explained as he eyed Sango's robe-clad form appreciatively. She gave him a dry look, knowing what the look he was giving her meant. He had curbed the groping and butt-grabbing somewhat since they had been entrapped, he just did it when the children weren't within earshot or sight. She was somewhat glad to see that, though he could definitely be serious and take charge, he was still himself under all of the responsibilities he'd taken on.

"It seems to run pretty well, if this phenomena has spread all the way to that town, we'll have to hope we can get some gas without trouble." Sachiko explained as she sat down on a blanket by the window. Everyone slowly maneuvered that way, except for Tetsuyo who seemed to be sulking. He didn't like the fact that everyone had deemed Miroku to be the leader of their rag-tag little group. With the exception of Kagome, no one had been lost on Miroku's watch so they had voted to set Miroku as their leader. After seeing him in action the last few weeks, Sango definitely agreed with this decision and did everything she could to support him.

"If we run into trouble and have to make a quick getaway, could we make it to the next town?" Sango questioned as she settled on the ground across from Sachiko.

"I think so... I'm not positive, though. It's a medium-sized truck so it may be a gas guzzler." Sachiko explained grimly, her expression not looking too sure. "If we run out of gas before we get there, we'll be sitting ducks, though."

"What about the cars in the driveway? Could we siphon some gas from them into the pots and pans as a backup?" Sango questioned, she had considered in her mind this possibility if there wasn't sufficient fuel in the truck.

"It's possible, we'd have to find some sort of hose. Getting over to the cars unseen may be tricky too." Sachiko explained with an unsure, but slightly hopeful look. "The general parking lot is so far away, we haven't gone even half that distance in any of our trips out."

"I have an idea..." Miroku said quietly, a look of contemplation on his face. "I want to do a few small experiments before I put it into action, though. I have an idea of something that may keep us invisible from them whenever we move. I'll need to test it, though..."

"Okay, so what's stopping you?" Sango asked as she gave him a questioning look. She really had no clue what he had in mind or just how he could make them invisible. That was impossible, right?

"Well... it will be a bit dangerous. I'll need to capture one of those creatures to run a few tests first." Miroku said slowly and glanced up to see the look of fear that filled Sachiko's features and the nervous look that filled Sango's.

- l - l - l -

Kagome was alert, on edge... She had heard the wolves howling off and on all day, echoing dully against through the rocks above her underground hide-away. Inu-chan hadn't left her side and was particularly tense as he followed her wherever she went. She knew he was protecting her, and she was grateful for the comfort he offered; and occasional lick on the wrist, a head lying in her lap, things of that nature. She had really grown to have an uncomfortable fear of wolves and the fact that she could hear them running across the ground above them made her skin prickle uncomfortably.

"Ne, Inu-chan..." Kagome said in a quiet whisper when she hadn't heard anything above them for a good two hours. "I'm kind of hungry, is there any fish in the water or anything?"

She was unsure of this since she hadn't really grown up in or near the wilderness. She knew there would be no fish in the hot springs because they couldn't withstand the heat, but maybe Inu-chan knew about a cold-water stream aside from the waterfall that ran through the cave. There were parts of the cave that were shrouded in darkness on the other side of the hot spring that she was afraid to explore. Aside from being pitch black, she wasn't sure what she would find or how far they went. For all she knew, the ceilings in those depths of the cave could be weakened and ready to give way.

Inu-chan picked his head up from her lap and made eye contact with her for several moments. Kagome couldn't read the look in his eyes, but she thought he might be contemplating her question. He slowly stood and scented the air, sniffing in the direction of the dark portions of the cavern. Kagome had come into the large, hot spring chamber because the heat was always better in there because of the geothermal energy that spilled up through the ground.

He walked toward the doorway and skirted around a small ledge that followed the edge of the pool back into the darkened region. Kagome was afraid to follow, but her instincts were telling her that she needed to go with him in case the wolves howling started up again. She really didn't want to be separated from him. When she was with him, she felt unusually safe and secure. He had already saved her life once from the other wolves and he had been taking care of her and protecting her ever since. She only wondered why he had fought so hard to drag her from the attic and take care of her afterward.

Inu-chan disappeared from her view around a corner into the darkness and Kagome heard a splash echo dully around the cavern. She felt her body tense as she kept her eyes focused on the place her savior had disappeared, nervousness eating at her for every moment she couldn't see him. She could hear more splashing from the darkness and she concluded that he had gone deeper than the first time. The hair on the back of her neck prickled when she heard a hushed yipping sound coming from his direction.

"Is something wrong?" She whispered as fear settled heavily on her chest as the tension stretched. She was tempted to go toward the sound to make sure he was all right, but couldn't gather up the courage to take that first step.

Before she could take more than a few steps, she saw the dim light emitting from the plants reflecting off of white fur. His golden eyes flashed fiercely in the dim light as he walked carefully along the narrow ledge, water dripping from his fur. Clutched in his mouth was a large fish that dangled down on either side of his jaw fighting feebly as it lost it's fight to the oxygen. Kagome couldn't help the smile that lit up her face and she felt a wave of relief. She really didn't want to be left alone in the underground cave by herself right now for fear of the wolves. What would happen to her if Inu-chan got caught by the wolves and didn't come back? She didn't want to think about where she'd be then...

Without her protector, and she'd like to think her friend, she would be stranded in the woods, lost, alone, and scared. She would have no food, unless she could find the stream he'd just been splashing in, and then there was always the possibility that the wolves would find her and make a meal out of her.

Kagome shook the grim thoughts from her mind and instead focused on the situation at hand. She gently took the fish from Inu-chan's mouth, scratching him behind the ear in appreciation before she headed to the main entrance in the cavern. She went to work immediately with the dull knife she had found stashed about the cave and began to scrape the scales from the fish. She really hated cleaning whatever he brought to her, but after two weeks of being forced to do it, she had finally gotten the hang of it to a certain extent. At least she didn't get nauseous at the sight of blood anymore or feel tears pricking her eyes as she was forced to skin an adorable rabbit. Fish were definitely easier since she'd done that before at home when she'd pick up fresh fish from the market.

Kagome had a small corner set up near the entrance that seemed to vent pretty well to pull the smoke out of the cave, which was definitely a plus because she wasn't a big fan of sushi and she felt a little sick at the thought of eating raw meat. Kagome put the scraps of the fish into a battered basket as she cleaned the fish. She would take her bucket and dump it into the quick-moving stream at the end of the hit spring once they'd eaten. To her great amusement, Inu-chan seemed to prefer his meat cooked as well and would completely ignore the scrap basket unlike a normal dog. She found it endearing that he let her do her thing with the cleaning and cooking as he would just lay down and watch her expectantly.

When she was satisfied with her work, Kagome went back into the hot spring chamber and preceded to rinse the meat off in a bucket of fresh water she'd gotten from the waterfall when she'd bathed earlier in the day. She'd only found two buckets that were in good enough shape to actually hold water so she used one as drinking water and the other as rinse water to clean whatever they had to eat. She sighed as she picked the bucket of rinse water up and walked over to dump it in the stream where the water ran off out of the cave. She made sure to dump it every time she used it to keep away germs and would sanitize the bucket using the hot water of the spring afterward. It was really a chore for her since she'd have to wade out to the waterfall again to refill the bucket and balance it on her head as she tiptoed back through the deeper water back to the bank on the other side. It's not like it was a hard chore, she just felt uncomfortable being nude in the cave and she would shiver until she was dry enough to dress. She hadn't found anything that would work as a towel to dry with when she got out of the spring so she would normally just wait to nature to work and for the water to evaporate away.

Kagome walked back into the entrance chamber with the prepared meat and set it on a flat stone lying beside her fire pit. She duck in the dirt with another rock to turn up the coals she'd buried in some sand she'd gathered from the bottom of the hot spring before she lay some dry twigs on top. She leaned down and blew gently on the coals and watched as they glowed red as they drew in the oxygen. After a few gentle gusts of air, the fuel caught fire and a small fire kindled to life. She fed the small fire some more fuel, careful to keep the flames low so there would be little smoke. The last thing they needed was for the small trickle of smoke that floated upward on the small current of air that swept it from the cave to come to the attention of the wolves. Kagome feared that the wolves knew they were nearby and were searching for her and Inu-chan.

Kagome cooked the fish mechanically, not really paying it too much attention as she lost herself in thought. She wondered how long she would have to stay underground and grimaced. She was already missing sunlight and feeling restless being confined to the cavern, even if it was rather spacious. It was damp and slightly musty, and lets not forget the scent of sulfur that permeated through the air. That was on thing that was beginning to bug her, the scent of rotten eggs gave her a headache and took her appetite a bit. She felt for Inu-chan, though. If the scent of sulfur bugged her, it must do a number on his more sensitive sense of smell, though he did get a break from it when he left the cave.

Before she knew it, the fish was cooked and its sweet smell was overpowering the scent of sulfur, which elicited a sigh of relief from Kagome. She separated it into two helpings and placed it on two flat rocks that she had found at the bottom of the hot spring and used as makeshift plates. She took the one with a larger portion and placed it in front of Inu-chan He licked her hand gratefully before he dug in to the meal, slurping up the food before it could get cold. Kagome couldn't help a soft smile as she began to eat at a more sedate pace. Her stomach had been growling, but she really wasn't feeling much like eating. She knew that she had to keep her strength up in case those wolves found them and she and Inu-chan were forced to flea so she forced herself to eat.

Her wrists had finally healed, leaving behind a vivid red line on either wrist that she hoped would fade with time. With scars like that, it would definitely give the wrong impression on her persona. She really didn't want to be thought of as a suicidal, depressed girl; but she may not have much of a choice. How many people would believe that some dark, oppressive spirit had drawn her in and slashed her wrists in some sort of freaking ritual. They hadn't gotten infected, thankfully, since she had been able to keep them clean due to the plentiful supply of water they had.

Kagome tensed up again as she could hear the howling start up above ground once again. She set her rock down and hugged her arms around her stomach, feeling a shiver run down her spine. She had just finally calmed down enough to think that maybe they were out of danger for a little while. Inu-chan growled in the back of his throat at the sound and rose to his feet, the fur on his back standing on end.

"I'm scared..." Kagome whispered as a single tear slid slowly down her cheek and dripped off her chin. She felt something soft and warm wrap around her body and found Inu-chan wrapped protectively around her, his leg draped around her and tail wrapped around her other side. She heard a strange growl vibrate in the back of his throat and couldn't help the blush that touched her cheeks. She wasn't sure why she was embarrassed by the intimate display of affection and protection, but she suddenly just felt a flood of bashfulness overtake her senses enough to make her even forget her fear.

- l - l - l -

Two more weeks passed by slowly for Kagome, dragging on and on as she became more and more restless in what she was now calling her prison. She felt like Rapunzel from the British folktale, locked away from everyone in a tower, except her tower was actually like a dungeon since it was damp and dank and underground. Inu-chan went out less and less frequently and typically only went out when there was a blizzard or whiteout above ground. She could tell this by the whistling of the wind through the rocks and trees above them. One thing about being underground in the mountains was that sound tended to carry rather well as it vibrated through the rocks and trees.

The two of them ate fish more and more often, much to Kagome's displeasure; but really, beggars can't be choosers. On his occasional trips up, Inu-chan would bring back what he could so they'd occasionally have rabbit or a wild turkey. The turkeys would keep for a little while longer too because of the size. She had followed the path he'd taken through the dark two weeks prior to the stream Inu-chan would fish in and that's where she would store the excess food since the freezing cold water kept it as cool as any refrigerator. She wouldn't go back there without Inu-chan, though. She couldn't touch the glowing vines that lit the place so she had no light and needed Inu-chan's help to know where to go.

He had also managed to scavenge up some clothes for her as well. It wasn't much, but he'd found a cotton kimono that was slightly too large and a bit faded with a matching obi. He had also found her a white robe that looked like it may have come from the resort they had been staying in, which she would pull on whenever she'd washed her clothes or had come out of the hot springs.

Kagome would occasionally have to patch up Inu-chan when he came back from his missions, but she was thankful that none of his injuries had been very serious. What had surprised her most about that was just how fast they would heal! If she tried to wash and bandage relatively minor injuries, he would brush past her and growl at her warningly. She was put off by this the first few times and would worry her bottom lip with her teeth as she tried to coax him into letting her treat him. To her surprise, though, by morning all of those minor injuries would be completely gone! Unless he was bleeding profusely or limping, he really wouldn't allow her to treat any injuries he might get.

She couldn't help but be fearful of what was up there, though. If he could come back in with so many injuries being as strong and fierce as he was, how bad was it up there still? She had been hoping that things would calm down after a while and eventually she would be able to venture out and try to find her friends. She would send a silent prayer every day for their safety and the safety of her family, but the longer she remained trapped with her protector, the more grim her outlook would come as her hope slipped a little more.

She was thankful, however, of Inu-chan. He had been a blessing in the hell that surrounded her. While she missed and worried for her family and friends, she was glad that he was around. She felt safe when she was with him and had come to trust him and count his as her friend. He wasn't a pet, he was much too independent and intelligent to ever be considered a pet, but he had become her friend.

Inu-chan had so many human-like traits that Kagome found her mouth dropping open all the time, even after she had spent a month with him. His face and eyes were very expressive that she found herself knowing what some of his looks meant without him having to make a sound. He had one look where one side of his mouth would turn up and he'd quirk an eyebrow that looked unmistakably like a smirk. There was also the one where his eyebrows would knit together and he would stare at her with those piercing golden eyes that was clearly a glare. Then there were all of the different sounds he would make that she had come to know. His yips, grunts, and numerous growls had come to be a familiar sound to her in their month of solitude. It was strange to her that she could almost seem to read what he was saying by his body language and vocal sounds. She had gotten used to the fact that he somehow actually knew what she was saying to him.

Kagome had never really gotten used to the sound of wolves howling and would hear them howling and scratching around above them every few days. If Inu-chan wasn't in the cave, he would rush back as soon as the wolves howling started up and wouldn't leave her side until well after it had stopped. He would stick right by her side and comfort her as the wolves did whatever it was they were doing above the ground, searching for them likely. Kagome couldn't help but think that the wolves kept coming around because they were looking for her and Inu-chan. They would only come around after Inu-chan had gone up for food so it was a pretty obvious assumption to make.

Kagome stood up from her sitting position on the edge of the hot spring, she set the sketchbook and pencil down on the stone beside her and stretched her hands above her head. The days went by so slowly down in the cave and they seemed much longer since she didn't have anything to do. She had been absolutely thrilled when Inu-chan had come back down into the cave with the small case that had a few art supplies inside of it. There was a small colored pencil set, several drawing pencils, a sketchbook that only had a few pages used, an exact-o with a blade, and a well-used eraser. She knew she wasn't much of an artist, but she enjoyed drawing nonetheless and she was happy to see that her skills were improving. Either way, whether she improved or not, she was just glad to have _something_ to pass the time!

"It's time for a bath. No peeking, Inu-chan." Kagome said as she pulled her sweater up over her head and tossed it over Inu-chan's face. He growled in annoyance and pulled it from his head with his front paws before shooting her a glare. He yipped indignantly as if to tell her that he had no intentions on peeking and she couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out.

"Okay okay, I understand. You weren't going to." She walked up to him, still giggling and kissed him on the end of his wet nose before turning and shedding her clothing.

Kagome waded out to her waist in the hot water before ducking under the smooth surface. The water felt good, but she still couldn't help that odd feeling of self-consciousness as she bathed in front of Inu-chan.

"So Inu-chan, when can we get out of here?" She obviously wasn't expecting an answer from him, but it was too quiet in the cave so she would speak to him as if he _could_ answer her with words instead of grunts, barks, growls, or yips.

"Keh! How the hell should I know? Those damn wolves won't stop sniffing around!" A gruff, male voice broke through the air and Kagome froze like a deer in the headlights with her back to the voice.

"W-who said that?" She squeaked as she spun around, not bothering to cover herself in her moment of panic. She hadn't heard another human voice in a month so she instinctively searched the bank for her protector, her Inu-chan, fear gripping her chest as adrenaline pumping through her veins. "Inu-chan!" She shrieked when she didn't see the white dog who had become her friend laying on the rocks at the side of the pool.

"Geez! Do you want those damn wolves to find us, onna?" A young man with long pale hair hanging over his bare chest snapped as her eyes fell on him for the first time. Kagome squeaked again and dropped down into the water up to her neck to cover her bare chest and stomach. "Keh, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before." He muttered as he looked away, even in the dim light Kagome could see his nose was dusted pink in embarrassment.

"What did you do to Inu-chan?" She demanded angrily as she slowly backed up in the water as she tried to put more space between them. When he looked back toward her, a strange look of surprise passed over his face and he looked down at his hands in apparent amazement.

"How?" Was all he asked as he flexed his fingers and began to move his arms and examine himself.

Kagome was afraid of the unknown man, but felt a pang of curiosity at his strange behavior. Her eyes searched the bank frantically for any sign of her precious Inu-chan as she continued to back away into the deeper water. She knew there was no way out of the cave save for the passageway behind the man sitting on the edge of the pool. She couldn't help the flush on her face as she took in his appearance from a distance. From where she was, she could see long pale hair that reflected the dim light from the plant life and actually looked silver from her vantage point. She couldn't see his face well since it was cast in deep shadows made by long bangs that hang in his eyes, but she could tell he had really long nails, and his state of undress made her face burn as an embarrassed blush took over her features. She couldn't help but appreciate the rippling muscles visible of his bare chest that she could see cast in relief by the pale light.

"Oi, mate." He called as he stood up from his cross-legged position on the ground. This brought a true scream from Kagome's throat as she realized just HOW undressed he was! Before she knew it, a wave of water washed over her and she felt her body crushed against a hard wall of muscle with a hand clamped over her mouth firmly cutting off her cry.

"Shut the fuck up! Do you want them to find us?" He demanded in a hushed whisper, his eyes reflecting anger, annoyance, and... was that concern? She wiggled against him, trying to break away from him as fearful tears slid silently down her cheeks. _'Wait... his eyes?'_ Kagome thought to herself as she stared into a pair of burnished gold eyes that reflected the light. Her eyes widened in shock as something clicked into place in her mind and she went slack in his arms before her cheeks flushed scarlet at the sudden realization.

He was tense as he held her, and let out a sigh of relief when Kagome stopped struggling. He loosened his hold on her and dropped the hand that was covering her mouth. Kagome studied his face, taking in the strong lines and especially the eyes, those _familiar_ eyes. _'It's not possible, is it?'_ She thought to herself as she tentatively reached up to touch a strand of silver hair that framed a strong jaw and those eyes that seemed to hold her completely entranced. That's when her eyes fell on something that twitched on the top of his head.

"No way... Inu-chan...?" Kagome questioned as she reached a hand up to touch the most _adorable_ pair of silver puppy ears she had ever seen that sat atop his head. His hand caught her wrist before she could touch them and he glared down at her and dared her with his eyes to try it again.

"Geez, stop calling me that, would ya? It's too damn girly." He griped as Kagome just gaped up at him. He was absolutely _gorgeous_ with an amazing body that was pressed up to hers... and _she_ was naked... and _HE_ was naked...

"Hentai!" She shrieked as she pushed him away roughly and turned her back to him before she moved through the water as quickly as she could while keeping herself covered with her arms.

"Oi! What did I say about shouting, mate!" He hissed in a low voice as he chased after her and grabbed her wrist gently yet firmly. Kagome's eyes bulged at his speed, he had grabbed her in a moment, and she'd had a head start! He pulled her to him and crushed her into his chest again, his hand coming up to cover her mouth in the same motion. Kagome flushed at the feeling of smooth skin pressed up against her and felt a tightening in her stomach as she took in his taut muscles pressed against her. It took he several long moments but when she managed to gain her composure and look up at him, she saw a triumphant smirk on his face that revealed one pearl white fang poking out over his lip.

"Like what you see, mate?" He asked suggestively as he rubbed against her and leaned down to run his rough tongue along her collarbone. She shuddered involuntarily at the sensation and subconsciously leaned further into him rather than shoving him away like her brain was screaming at her to do. When she realized what she was doing, she shoved against him and gave him a furious glare. The shove only put her an arms length away from him, since his hands had left her mouth and lower back and dropped to her waist, keeping her firmly in place.

"Let me go!" Kagome hissed in a low voice as she tried to slow her rapidly beating heart. She flushed and crossed her arms across her chest when she saw him staring at her bared breasts appreciatively, though she noted that his face was slightly flushed. "And stop calling me that, I have a name you know!" She snarled as she twisted slightly, trying to get him to release her. It didn't work and only resulted in him spinning her around and him pressing himself up against her back with one hand on her hip and the other laying on her flat stomach and slowly moving upward.

"I don't think I'll let you go." He whispered huskily into her ear as his fangs grazed the shell, sending electric shooting through her body and an involuntary shudder to wrack through her body. "I've laid my claim, my mate will obey me."

"W-what?" She growled out as anger overpowered the sensations that he was sending through her body. "I'm my own person and I obey _no one_!" She snarled, remembering to keep her voice down.

"You're _mine_!" He said in a low growl and as if to prove a point, he sank his fangs down into the juncture of her neck and shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain from Kagome as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

She fought against him, trying to break his hold, but he was too strong so she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for it to be over. His hand ran along her hip where the puncture scar with the strange crescent moon in the center was located, claws pricking the skin lightly but not breaking the skin and she felt herself calming down unwittingly. The gentle touch to her hip made her whole body relax and after a moment, she felt a rough tongue sliding over the wound he had inflicted on her neck.

"What... what did you do to me...?" Kagome asked in a whisper as she found herself reaching up to lay her hand on his arm that was wrapped gently around her shoulders, holding her in place.

"I had to mark you." He said in a whisper in her ear and she heard a hint of what might have been guilt or perhaps even regret. "That pack was going to eat you to steal your life force, but you were in more danger because of your spiritual powers."

"My what?" Kagome asked in true confusion. Sure, she had grown up on an old Shinto Shrine, but no one in her family had possessed _actual_ powers since the feudal era, though her grandfather did run around with ofuda trying to purify anything he deemed to have a demonic presence... which was _everything_!

"The only way to regain our true forms, is to steal the life force of people... By eating them..." He explained as he squeezed her hip reassuringly. "All humans possess a life force, but those with spiritual powers have significantly _higher _life energy than normal ones. You would be equivalent to eating at least 100 humans."

"W-what? No way!" Kagome cried as she forgot the need to keep quiet. She moved quickly and pulled away from him, spinning around to look him in the face. "But wait... if life energy is the only thing that can change you, how the _HELL_ did you change?"

"You got me! Maybe you passed it subconsciously when you kissed me!" He hissed out, giving her a dark look to remind her she needed to keep her voice down.

"When I did what?" Kagome demanded as her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She tried to think back to what had happened before she had heard his gruff voice for the first time, but she was drawing a complete blank. "I did no such thing!" She argued as she poked him in the chest with one hand on her hip indignantly. His lip quirked up on one side into a smirk with one fang poking out.

"You did, right here." He stated simply and leaned forward to kiss her lightly on the end of her nose. A look of dawning realization filled her features as she realized that, yes indeed, she _had_ kissed him! It had been so fleeting and innocent that she hadn't even remembered it until he showed her.

"Oh..." Was all Kagome could manage to say as she stood stock-still in front of him, suddenly feeling awkward and uncomfortable. The awkward silence stretched on, Kagome's face becoming more red by the moment and his smirk only growing bigger when she had nothing to say.

"By the way, the name is Inuyasha." He stated simple as he took a step closer to her and brushed her damp hair off of her neck before cupping her face. He tipped her face up to look at him and she flushed at the look of unadulterated lust that filled his features. His heavy lidded eyes were halfway closed and the smirk had softened into a look of longing. She felt herself leaning up to meet his as he leaned down toward her, the distance between their lips slowly shrinking. Her brain told her _no_, but there was something drawing her to him that she was finding impossible to sever.

When their lips were mere millimeters apart, a shrill sound rent the air and Kagome felt her stomach drop into her toes. The sound of wolves howling... and they were closer than they had ever been before...

"Oh kami no..." Kagome whispered as her eyes popped open and she clutched on to Inuyasha's arms with an iron grip.

"Fuck!" Inuyasha hissed as his ear twitched toward the doorway to the main cavern. "They found us..."

**::FIN::**

**February 21, 2012**

**Notes**: Yeah yeah, I know, I left a pretty nasty cliffhanger... I tend to do that often to try and keep the attention of my readers (you'll see this if you read some of my other works). Anyway, please leave a review so I at least know if I'm doing all right, even if it's just to say 'I love it' or 'I hate it'.

**HopelessRomantic183**: Hehe, I have a feeling you got the answer to your question with the end of this chapter about the 'mark' on her hip~.^ The bite on the neck this chapter was the same thing, but it's a more 'permanent' one than the one on her hip (which I'll delve into in later chapters). Since he'd marked her before, albeit without her consent, he put this one on her as a disciplinary measure since she was defying him~.^ Also, your guess was right on the mark with the 'crazy animals' being demons/half-demons, I was hoping that would come through while I was writing it *yay* I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the previous ones, as I said, the pace is definitely going to pick up from here~.^

**ladyofmusic**: I've considered getting a beta, but it takes me so long to write the actual chapter, I'd hate to make people wait even longer while it went through the beta process. I hope everyone understands that, I _know_ I have typos and the occasional wrong word used in a sentence and just don't normally have the time to go through the chapter with a fine-tooth comb before I post (it's tough being a single, working mother of a two-year old -.- most of the time I'm writing on my droid anyway, lol). I'm hoping the eventually find the time to go through both this and Kurayami no Naka de Hikari and edit the whole thing, but I don't think it will happen any time soon. I hope you enjoyed this update^^ I had a BLAST writing it (especially the end~.^).


	5. Chapter 4 Seriously! What!

**Solstice**

**Notes**: 10 pages | 7,250 words – Okay, here's the next chapter of Solstice! Thanks you SO much for everyone who came to read this! I'm so happy to have gotten a bit of feedback on it :D Anyway, for the time being, Kagome is referring to Inuyasha as Inu-chan so you'll see that quite a bit here~.^ If something is seen through his perspective, I've used his name. Anyway, don't wanna bore you with tons of AN so go read now!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters thereof. Even though that is the case, please don't steal my plot, concept, or story out of respect for my creative endeavor as I would not do this to anyone out there.

- l - l - l - Change of scene, time, etc.

_'Thoughts/dreams'_ will be in single quotes (IE: ' ')

**Chapter 4 – Seriously? What!**

Five weeks. Already five weeks had gone by since the winter solstice when everything had gone completely haywire and they were all reduced to living in an attic. Tensions were high as Miroku's plan to _make them invisible_ had yet to bear any fruit. It's not that they hadn't tried to catch one of the possessed creatures, they were trying to approach them with caution because they didn't want anyone hurt in the process. Not only that, but they had seen some strange men dressed in furs that they would see running around outside of the building at times.

Because of their strange garb of brown furs and what looked like armor on their upper bodies, they had been confined to their little prison a lot lately. They weren't about to risk approaching these strange people without knowing more about them. Because face it, not many Japanese men wore their hair as long as Sango's in a high ponytail and had brilliantly blue eyes like the man they had seen earlier that day. Not only that, but these strange men were nearly always accompanied by large, brown wolves that seemed to do take commands from them.

Sango had a feeling he knew that they were there in the attic because he had studied the building for several minutes without turning away and the only thing that had seemed to snap him out of it was a long, low howl heard from a distance echoing out of the forest. He had left shortly after that, disappearing in a swirling vortex of air created by the speed of his feet across the ground. Since then, everyone had been on high alert and were getting a little anxious about leaving.

Sango herself wasn't so sure about leaving the mountains just yet. Against her better judgment and what her fellow occupants said, she and Miroku still had hope that Kagome was alive and safe somewhere. She would send up a prayer for her best friend every day, pleading for some sign that Kagome was still among the living. Miroku seemed grim about Kagome's fate. While he never openly said that he felt Sango's hope was irrational, she could feel his doubt when she spoke of finding Kagome. Kagome's kidnapping rested heavily on Sango's shoulders and, though Miroku tried to tell her that it wasn't her fault, she couldn't shake that weight of responsibility from her mind. She had brought Kagome here, she had taken her into the forest, and she hadn't protected her when that wolf broke in.

"We need to leave now!" Tetsuyo hissed angrily as he glared at Miroku with bloodshot eyes.

"It's not wise to leave a spot that we're secured in when we've had visuals on them." Miroku said calmly as he sat cross-legged on the floor with several long strips of paper spread out on the floor in front of him. He had found an old fashioned calligraphy set somewhere and had been praying and writing strange symbols on the papers for some time now. Even Sango wasn't sure what he was doing, but the papers looked like the sutras Kagome's grandfather would slap on Miroku's _cursed_ hand every time he felt to urge to grope Sango's butt before the old guy got sick and ended up in the hospital.

"You saw the same thing we saw!" Sachiko hissed, disagreeing with Miroku who she had trusted explicitly until she had started getting more confident by being included in the recon teams that went out. She and Tetsuyo had gotten into trouble on one such trip as they tried to go further out than normal and had found a family of angry-eyed foxes living in one of the guest rooms. She managed to, surprisingly, grab Sango's rucksack from the floor and Kagome's big, ugly yellow napsack in the process. Miroku and Sango had been forced to bail them out of this situation when they'd discovered, by the amount of yelling, how far from the attic they had gone.

While Sango was glad to have a change of clothes and her favorite pink eyeshadow back, it was hardly anything to risk lives over and Sachiko now sported a long, red line down her cheek from a swipe of the father fox's claws which would likely leave a scar.

Sango had managed to mix a few of the chemicals together she'd found in the closet and sprayed a concoction that kept the foxes at bay long enough for them to get away. From Sango's perspective though, she didn't feel they would have attacked if they hadn't felt threatened. Their posture was defensive and Sango had seen a tiny, green-eyed baby fox hidden behind the legs of the mother that peeking up at them. Their nest had been disturbed so they had been forced to protect their young one, something neither Tetsuyo nor Sachiko had noticed.

She had gotten very creative with her various weapons and had several different concoctions she kept hidden about her person when she went out of the attic. She had a couple of liquid concoctions she'd encapsulated in some small glass bottles she could smash on the ground and create a noxious haze that would fill the air. She also had several powders she'd mixed up that made the eyes water and burn that could be flung in the faces of their attackers, not to mention the mixture that would work against an animal with a sensitive sense of smell like a wolf. She'd also created a few abrasive acids for if all else failed. She could cause physical damage as a last resort, she was reluctant to use those for the chance that she'd piss off the attacker and make things worse. Oh the joys of being a chemistry major! And to think all of these mixtures were made from common household cleaners and a few industrial grade cleansers in a few glass bottles and some heat to boil off the liquid.

"Look, I agree with Miroku." Sango said calmly as she pushed a lock of loose hair behind her ear. "We need to wait until everything outside calms down. It will be safer for us to move when there aren't any of them moving around out there."

"It's best to move now while they're distracted!" Tetsuyo snapped angrily as his voice raised in volume.

"Quiet!" Sango hissed in anger at his outburst. "They obviously have a good sense of hearing! Do you want them to find us before we even make a decision?"

"We may never get an opportunity like this again!" Sachiko growled back as her face flushed red with anger. "Their attention is drawn away from us right now, we need to take advantage of their distraction."

"Wolves aren't the only thing we have to worry about, unless you've forgotten!" Sango argued back, her anger peaking as they argued against Miroku's decision. While it was a democracy in their attic, they would tend to listen to his suggestions, especially after he saved Tetsuyo and Sachiko from some reckless behavior they'd displayed, least of which was their tendency to sneak off with a few bottles of sake and come back tipsy and obnoxious. "Besides, the wolves may be spread over a large area and might see our leaving. That's not a good thing in their obvious agitated state!"

Neither Sachiko, nor Tetsuyo had anything to say to this pronouncement as Tetsuyo just stood there with a blank expression and Sachiko's mouth opened and closed several times dumbly with no words coming out. Miroku had remained silent during this whole exchange as he lifted one thin sheet of paper at a time and closed his eyes with one hand raised with his fingers pointed at the ceiling and his palm flat. Sango wasn't positive what he was doing seeing as how she wasn't raised on a Shinto Shrine like Kagome, nor a Buddhist Temple like Miroku. Not that Kagome had ever taken any interest in being trained as a shrine miko or even learn to the history of her home. Then again, since Kagome was relatively young she had been working to help provide for her family.

"I think it's time to test my theory." Miroku said calmly as he slid the small stack of papers into the pockets of his jacket.

"Miroku?" Sango questioned as she looked at her friend strangely. He hadn't even spoken to her about what his _theory_ about the possessed animals was, nor who he thought the strangely-dressed men were they'd seen in the side yard of the resort, not even to her. He seemed unsure himself, but his resolve seemed to stiffen when he saw the men earlier since they'd remained in the open for longer than usual.

"I'll take a small group with me to test it out." Miroku said as he rose to his feet with a grim yet determined look on his face. Sango mirrored this look as she nodded her head, letting him know that she was in.

"I'm going too." Sachiko stated simply as she stepped forward a step. Tetsuyo wobbled forward as if to take a place next to Sachiko, glaring darkly at Miroku to whole time.

"You've been talking about your little magic trick for weeks, yet you've showed us nothing!" He said angrily as his eyes narrowed on Miroku. "Why should we pass up our opportunity of escape because you _think_ you can do the impossible?"

"It's not impossible." Miroku said simply as a small smile touched his lips. "One test and I'll know if my theory is correct. I read in an old scroll at the Buddhist Temple I grew up on about the monsters you see in old ink sketches. The scroll was hidden under a small trap door in the basement of the temple. If I hadn't spilled the oil from one of Mushin's old lamps, I wouldn't have found it. Someone took some time to hide it away because there were seals plastered all over the inside of the trapdoor to conceal the aura that surrounded it. The same aura I felt on the wolves and those men out there."

Sango raised a delicate eyebrow at him. He had never told her about a hidden scroll he'd found, nor what it contained. She glared at him for holding out on her, and he gave her an apologetic look when he caught her glare. She had thought that they were closer than that, but apparently he was still just a player after all. If he had put his full trust in her, she would have found out about his secret scroll and his suspicions as soon as these possessed animals attacked.

"It'll be a team of three going out." Miroku explained as he began walking toward the trapdoor. "It'll be me, Sango, and Sachiko."

"Oi! I'm going too!" Tetsuyo broke in angrily as he grabbed Miroku roughly by the shoulder. Miroku glanced back over his shoulder and quicker than anyone could see, grabbed Tetsuyo's hand and twisted him around so he was held in a sleeper hold, his eyes bulging out in complete surprise.

"Not with the smell of sake on your breath." Miroku said coldly as he glared down at the older man that he held tightly. Tetsuyo fought feebly, but Miroku was younger and stronger and wasn't being obscured by the effects of alcohol so his efforts were in vain. "If you try to bring _any_ of that sake when we leave here, I'll dump you on the side of the road to fend for yourself." He said darkly, as he tightened his hold momentarily in a threatening manner before he released him all-together. Tetsuyo stumbled forward and landed in a heap on the floor, panting and cursing under his breath as he tried to find his feet.

"Ryo, you're in charge while we're gone." Miroku said as he directed his attention to the solemn teenage boy that stood protectively in front of Umi and her children. He had become very quiet over the weeks and had become increasingly protective of the children, wanting to make sure they weren't separated from their mother like his father had been taken away from him. He still seemed to blame himself for Kagome's disappearance, but seemed determined to make up for it by growing up and protecting the children and their mother.

"You're putting the _kid_ in charge?" Tetsuyo growled out as he managed to stumble into a cross-legged sitting position on the floor.

"Unlike you, Ryo is sober and alert so he'll be more effective in event of an attack." Sango said coldly as she glared at the drunkard in their midst. She already had all of her poisons hidden on her but still placed conveniently enough that she could pull the proper one at a moment's notice. She picked up her metal-tipped, double-ended spear that was leaning against the wall by the trapdoor and stopped behind Miroku. Sachiko had already hoisted her makeshift weapons and the three were preparing themselves for their most recent mission, knowing that this particular mission held a much larger level of danger than their normal recon missions.

"We all stick together. Sango, you watch our backs. Sachiko, you have the sides, I'll lead. If I say to stop, hide, or run for it. You _must_ do what I ask immediately without question." Miroku explained as he turned to the two women standing determinedly behind him.

"If you say run, there's no way in HELL that I'll be leaving you behind." Sango said as she glared at Miroku, a frown marring her beautiful face.

"Sango, I'll leave you behind if you don't swear on your brother that you'll do _exactly_ as I say." Miroku said as he glared right back at her, his jaw set.

"And lose you too? I don't think so!" Sango snarled right back at him as she took a step forward and poked him in the chest with her pointer finger.

"If something goes wrong, I won't chance losing you!" Miroku said sternly as he grabbed her hand that was poking him and held it gently, giving her a reassuring squeeze. His eyebrows were knit together in worry and his face was less than a foot away from hers, his violet eyes boring into hers. Sango felt her cheeks warming at the concern she saw painted across his face and knew she was blushing. A soft smile touched her lips as she squeezed his hand back gently.

"You'd be a sitting duck without me, Miroku." Sango said playfully as she tried to force the blush from her cheeks. "You're not getting rid of me that easily... Oi... where is your hand?" She finished as she gave him a dry look when she felt a hand rubbing across her rear.

"Ah, he he he." He laughed sheepishly as Sango's pointer and thumb closed on his hand and pinched, twisting lightly as her eyes narrowed on him.

"All right, I'll ditch if you get in trouble, lech." Sango said dryly as she pulled her other hand free from him and walked over to the trapdoor, ignoring him as she began to undo the latches on the door. Miroku laughed sheepishly as he rubbed his cheek that was sporting an angry red hand-print.

- l - l - l -

A low growl sounded in the back of Inuyasha's throat as he tightened his hold around his mate, noting her rapid heartbeat and shaking body. He could smell her fear as well as sense it through the special bond his mark had created. He didn't think she was aware of the connection just yet, but he had been from the moment he had laid his claim to stave off that mangy wolf. Her scent surrounded him in a cloud and his anger grew from the shear terror he could feel rolling off of her in waves. He wasn't sure if he would be able to protect her from the pack this time... last time they had all been trapped in their animal forms, this time they would all be in their true forms and he knew the leader of the wolves had regained his form weeks prior so had had time to re-acclimate himself to his powers. Inuyasha would also be horribly outnumbered and trapped in a small space with only one exit large enough for someone larger than a dog to leave through.

His ear twitched as he heard the boulder shifting that hid the main entrance of his cave. He had a small hidden entrance he had used, but there was no way he or his mate would be able to fit out of it. There was only one thing he could do, defend his mate and try to run as soon as he had the opportunity. They would have a much better chance above the ground than confined in this cave.

Decision made, Inuyasha scooped his mate up bridal style and jumped out of the water, landing softly on the bank. She turned frightened, doe eyes up at him and opened her mouth to speak, but he silenced her by holding one clawed finger up to his lips to indicate she shouldn't make any noise.

"They'll be here in a minute. Go hide in the dark portion of the cave." Inuyasha stated calmly and quietly as he picked up the white robe off the bank and slung it around her shoulders. "Stay hidden and I'll handle them. I'll come find you when I can."

She nodded her head in understanding, her bright, hazel eyes wide with fear and brimming with unshed, fearful tears. He ran his lips over hers lightly to try to ease her fears, just a feather light touch that brought a light flush to her cheeks but made his beast growl in satisfaction.

"Go quickly, I'll protect you." He assured her as he set her on her feet and urged her to head into the dark to hide. She stared at him imploringly, asking with her eyes that he go with her so he flashed her a toothy smile to reassure her. It seemed to work as she turned away and began picking her way quickly around the small ledge that ran next to the doorway and back into the dark. When he was confident that she was far enough away, he turned and headed for the dim sleeping chamber, his intentions set in his mind. There was one thing left in his ancient hideout that time had left untouched, one thing that could mean the life or death of his mate, who's sweet scent had driven him crazy from the first time he'd caught a whiff of it in that human dwelling he'd saved her from.

If he hadn't pulled her from there, the others would have continually attacked until they got her, so he had done the only thing he could think of... He'd broken in himself and dragged her away so he could hide her, marking her as his intended in the process to give her an added level of protection. Any that were weaker than him would leave her be for fear of his wrath, but that didn't protect her from those as strong or stronger than him. Hence the reason the leader of that flea-bitten wolf pack had been continually searching for her.

He dashed into the bed chamber and tipped the battered basket over, spilling a pile of red fabric onto the floor of the cave as a grim look crossed his face. _'I hope it will be enough.'_ He thought to himself as he extricated the pants and held them up.

- l - l - l -

Kagome was scared. No... that was an understatement. Kagome was absolutely TERRIFIED. She stumbled through the dark, moving quickly but unable to see where she was going so would inadvertently trip over something or step on sharp rocks that quickly had her feet aching. She had a feeling by the sticky, wet sensation she noticed with each step that they were bleeding from her blind dash through the dark. This was definitely a disadvantage to her because she was sure that the wolves would be able to follow the scent of her blood right to her so fear propelled her forward even faster, making her stumble every few steps and pant from the effort.

She felt exposed and defenseless without Inu-chan at her side and an unnatural fear of the dark seized her as she splashed through a shallow stream of ice-cold water, eliciting a gasp of surprise and displeasure at the frozen kiss of water splashing up her legs. She shivered as she pushed on through the dark, slowing down in case she fell into a pit in the floor or fell into a deeper stream than the trickle she had nearly tripped into. She could hear howling echoing off the stone walls _inside_ of the cave and fear seized her chest once more. He was right, they were here and this time she was facing them alone. He had been injured pretty badly the first time he had defended against them when he'd rescued her, what if he wasn't able to this time? She would be wolf-chow!

Kagome kept going, slowly now as she trailed her fingers along the wall to her right. She had never gone this far back and soon found herself bending nearly double as the ceiling began to dip down. She could tell she was a good distance away and she heard echoed voices yelling and curses echoes off the stone walls around her, blending in such a way that she was unable to tell anything besides the direction the voices were located. All words were lost as the sound waves bounced off all of the irregular surfaces of the cave.

Her fingers met open air as she took a few more steps and Kagome reached her hands out blindly to judge the distance of the gap in the wall. She discovered the hole was about three feet wide and just tall enough for her to slip under the top. She felt the wall behind her several feet and croached down in the corner of the little nook she'd found. The sounds of a struggle had ceased and Kagome could only hear a few male voices echoing from a distance as she huddled in the corner, terror and dread filling her entire being. She shivered from the cold as she pulled the wet robe closed as tightly as she could while she shivered uncontrollably. She felt alone and afraid as she hugged her body, trying to physically hold in her fear. Without Inu-chan by her side, she felt exposed and vulnerable.

"The scent goes this way." A male voice echoed off the walls, growing closer at an alarming rate. Kagome tensed as her heart stuck in her throat and pushed herself up further against the wall. Her cheeks were moist as tears streamed down her cheeks and she was too scared to stem that flow.

"Hurry up, this place reeks of mutt!" An arrogant voice rent through the air, considerably farther away.

"Okay Kouga!" The first voice replied in a loud yell that made Kagome's ears ring from the close proximity and the echo. She knew he was very close even if she couldn't see him in the dark. A low sniffling sound filled the air and she wanted to scream and run away, but had no where to go. She covered her mouth to keep from whimpering and giving herself away. Maybe she had stumbled around enough in the dark to not have left a clear path to follow? ...or not... Kagome let out a shrill shriek that was silenced as a hand clamped down over her mouth before she could make a peep.

"Calm yourself." A gruff, male voice whispered in her ear. She felt an arm snake around her waist and pull her gently from her hiding place before something soft and warm was dropped over her head that hung around her shoulders.

She was unable to tell what it was or _who_ it was in the pitch-dark of the cave, but the voice was familiar and so was the sensation she felt when it's owner was near. An arm was wrapped around her shoulders and led her out into the dark, keeping a gentle pressure on her shoulders as they slipped through the darkness. She felt some of her fear alleviated as she walked with the man leading her through the dark and felt suddenly safe.

"Hold." He whispered again, his lips grazing the shell of her ear and sending a chill down her spine from the warmth. She gripped the fabric that had been draped over her wet and shivering form and pulled it closed in front of her, reveling in the feeling of warmth that quickly spread through her frozen body. She could hear some snuffling and growling up ahead as she was pressed into her savior's chest.

The feeling of calm she got around him wasn't the only familiarity about him. His scent was the same! Kagome had noticed early on that the only times Inu-chan smelled like a _dog_ was when his fur was wet. Most of the time he smelled husky and of trees and the forest with a hint of sandalwood. That's why she didn't panic when Inu-chan scooped her up and crept silently through the pitch dark.

She grabbed on to his shirt and bunched it in her fists, pulling her face into his chest for added comfort. While she felt safe with him near, she was still terrified of the wolves and could hear them from various directions. It was easy to assume that they took the forms of humans too judging by the voices that echoed through the darkness. She could feel him moving swiftly through the darkness while he tightened his arms around her.

"How the _hell_ have you not found her yet?" A harsh male voice growled out nearby, making Kagome tense at the close proximity. She felt Inu-chan tighten his arms around her protectively and found herself being reassured as she stamped down the fear bubbling in her stomach.

"We're looking Kouga." Another voice replied, sounding perplexed. "They've been here for a long time so there aren't any scent trails. Their scents are everywhere."

"She's bleeding, that scent should stick out even in this cave!" Kouga snapped back angrily and Kagome flinched as she heard flesh hitting flesh nearby and what sounded like someone falling onto the stone. "Find her and kill that damn mutt!"

Inu-chan started walking again, this time away from the voices and toward the lit area of the cave. Kagome could hear his footsteps quicken on the moist stones and gripped onto his shirt tighter. It was now perfectly clear to her that they were looking for _her_! Her suspicions had just been confirmed and she felt her anxiety begin to rise again. What could they possibly want with _her_? It was apparent they didn't need to _eat_ her like Inu-chan had said earlier to steal her life energy since they had already regained their forms, so why could they possibly still be after her? Was it personal because Inu-chan had defeated their leader saving her? It just didn't really make sense to her.

"Hold on tight." Inu-chan's rough voice whispered into her ear and she was forced to cling to his arms as he took off at an alarmingly fast pace! She could hear his feet slapping on the ground, making wet splatting sounds as the lighted area grew in size.

"Get them! They're headed for the exit!" A male voice rang through the cavern and Kagome could feel Inu-chan's chest rumble with a low growl.

"Do _not_ get separated, mate." Inu-chan's voice growled out, his breath sounding haggard from the speed he was running at. Kagome frowned at the way he addressed her and lifted her face to glare up at him, able to see his eyes flash golden as they caught the light.

"My name is Kagome. Ka-go-me!" She hissed out as she glared up at him. She was really getting sick of him calling her _mate_, what was he? Australian or British or something? They were the only ones she knew that called their friends _mate_ in normal conversation.

"Now's not the time, onna." He growled back, his eyes never turning to look at her as he scanned the area in front of and behind them as he sprinted toward the entrance. Kagome didn't argue as she saw the green light shimmer across the hot spring and could hear the waterfall splashing down into the pool of hot water making steam waft across her face.

The shouting grew louder, echoing weirdly around the cave and making the words indistinguishable as the sound bounced and blended together in a piercing way that hurt even Kagome's normal human hearing. She looked up at Inu-chan and noticed his eyes were narrowed and jaw was set as his ears laid flat against his head, obviously trying to protect his sensitive hearing.

Then they were running along the ledge toward the doorway into the main chamber, the glowing vines blindingly bright after being emerged in the pitch blackness for such a long time. She saw bodies to the side and she was splashed by hot water as some of them jumped in next to them and tried to cut them off. She could hear growling close at hand and screamed loudly as a large, brown wolf charged with his jaws open wide and his deadly teeth glinting brightly. She watched in amazed shock as Inu-chan balled up a fist and sunk it into the side of the wolf's face, sending him flying into the water with a splash.

In a blur of lights and fur, they were suddenly in the main chamber and only a few feet from the exit. Kagome's grip tightened in anxiety and anticipation. She'd been cooped up in this cave for a month with no fresh air and no knowledge of even the time of day. What was it like up there? Were her friends and family still alive? The whistling of wind in her ears died abruptly and she felt herself jerk forward as Inu-chan stopped abruptly. His low growl made her skin prickle as she picked her head up and looked around the main chamber. There were two brown wolves blocking the entrance that were flanking two men with odd hair and wearing furs around their waists with old fashioned armor across their chests. They were both holding long spears with a metal point on the end blocking their path.

"Move damnit! Or I'll rip your fucking throats out!" Inu-chan growled out as he set Kagome down and pushed her behind him protectively.

"You have to go through us!" The man with a white mohawk said as his spear quaked a bit in his hand. Kagome noted that he had pointy ears and raised a confused eyebrow. _'What is he, an elf?'_ She thought dimly as she took in his appearance. She looked him up and down and compared him to Legolas from The Lord of the Rings and shook her head in denial. _'No way is HE an elf! He's not tall, fearless, or HOT! Though Inu-chan...'_ She felt her cheeks warm at the half-formed thought and shook her head to banish it from her mind. Now wasn't the time to think about how incredibly sexy the man standing protectively in front of her was.

"H-hand over the human and w-we won't hurt you, mutt!" Mr. White Mohawk said, his voice cracking as he brandished his spear at Inu-chan. With a growl and a swipe of Inu-chan's claws, the spear lay in splinters on the ground.

"Out of my way or that'll be your face, wolf." Inu-chan growled out angrily as he dropped into what was clearly an offensive stance. _'So they're wolves... guess it's kind of obvious now.'_ Kagome thought sheepishly as she noticed for the first time the long tails that swished behind them nervously.

"Kouga! Hurry!" The companion of the mohawked wolf, a wolf with gray hair and a black spiky bangs said, brandishing his own spear nervously.

"Humph, you two are pathetic. Can't even take on this little half-breed mutt?" An arrogant voice rang through the room, followed by a rush of air from behind Kagome. She turned around and gaped as she saw a _tornado_ flying toward her, the term _half-breed_ already dispelled from her mind.

"What is going on?" She shrieked as she clung on to Inu-chan's sleeve, the red material of the shirt he'd draped over her head fluttering in the wind caused by the freak windstorm that was _inside_ the cave. A terrified shriek ripped from her throat when she felt her feet leave the floor and a strong arm wrapped around her waist before she was flung over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"I'll take the miko, inukoro." A arrogant voice stated from near her head. She found her face staring at an armor-covered back with a long, black ponytail hanging down and brushing against her face.

"Check her neck, that's my _mate_, yaseokami!" Inu-chan's angry, rough voice growled out and Kagome could hear his fingers crack as she shoved against the body holding her.

"Let go of me!" She yelled as she kicked her feet and beat against his back with her fists. She didn't get any reaction out of him aside from a hard smack to her ass which was in the air. "How dare you?" She screeched indignantly as an angry blush filled her face.

"Quiet human!" The wolf holding her firmly in place snapped in annoyance.

"Like hell I will! Put. Me. Down!" She snarled as she'd finally had enough and had completely snapped. Who the hell did you think he was to smack her on the ass like she was an unruly child?

"Shut the hell up woman or I'll let the wolves have you!" Kouga snapped angrily as he smacked her ass again, harder this time, the sound ringing through the cavern.

"Take your hands off my mate, you bastard!" Inuyasha snarled dangerously as he dropped into a low crouch, his eyes flashing red as rage began to fill his entire being. His vision began to go out of focus and the only thing that he could see was the raven-haired woman who bore his mark collecting the scent of a filthy wolf that had taken her away from him.

"I see the mark, but you haven't mated her properly. She's still up for grabs." Kouga said confidently as he smirked down at the silver-haired dog-man. "Maybe I'll decide to take her as MY mate, your mark will disappear in an hour once she's been _properly _mated."

Kagome's jaw dropped open and she momentarily forgot to struggle against the pony-tailed wolf. It had just dawned on her that Inu-chan had been calling her _mate_ for a completely DIFFERENT reason than she had thought! It wasn't because he thought of her as a friend or a companion, he meant to actually MATE with her as in a term for _breeding_! She felt her face flush a brilliant scarlet at the realization and couldn't help the embarrassment that welled up and threatened to engulf her entire being. _'I can't believe I didn't realize he meant THAT!'_ Kagome thought to herself as she brought her hands up to hide her face. It only took a few moments for the embarrassment to dissipate and be replaced by anger.

"Wait a minute!" Kagome snapped, drawing all attention to her. "You all think you can _choose_ who I'M with?" They looked at her completely unabashedly, not really understanding what she was even talking about or why she was angry.

"Shut it, bitch! I've laid my claim already, release my mate, NOW!" Inuyasha growled out threateningly. It was the rule of their kind, if a male laid claim to a female he had first call on her unless a _stronger_ male was able to best him in a fight to the death. Then the female would go to the winner of the battle. "I've already beat you once, return my claim!"

"Humph! You think that was a fight? Please, I let you win that one, inukoro!" Kouga growled back as he tightened his hold on Kagome's waist, making her wince in pain.

"That hurts you know!" She hissed out as she again tried to shove her way off of his shoulder. "Put me down! I don't belong to either of you!"

"A bitch should know when to shut the hell up." Kouga growled out as he dropped Kagome to the ground in a heap. She groaned in pain as she pushed herself up off the ground and rose up on shaky legs. She pulled the red haori down over her back and slid her arms through the holes to free her hands. She was still afraid, but anger overshadowed the fear by this point. Who were these two jerks to decide who _she_ was with? She trusted Inu-chan but that didn't mean she was going to have _sex_ with him... I mean come _on_? She'd only found out he wasn't an actual dog today! ...even though he was really sexy and had the body of a god...

She shook her head to banish the memory of his naked body as she laid pressed up against his sculpted chest, equally as naked, their skin dripping wet with his hands sliding across her hip... _'Damnit!'_ Her inner voice growled as the mental image just kept shifting poses so she could see much more than she wanted to at the moment in her mental photo gallery. Her face was bright red and her heart we beating rapidly as she tried to think of something completely _unappealing_ that would drag her mind up out of the gutter! _'Miroku wearing a tutu! Miroku in a tutu!'_ Her mind screamed frantically as she tried to picture one of her best friend's dressed in drag to rid herself of the sexy image of Inu-chan laid out with his hands behind his head and one leg propped up, revealing all of his _equipment_...

"I'll kill you this time, yaseokami." Inuyasha growled out threateningly as he took a step toward the human woman that stood on wobbly legs next to the leader of the wolves. A sweet scent assaulted his nose coming from Kagome, but he ignored it as more there were more pressing things for him to focus on at the moment.

"Go ahead and try, mutt!" Kouga snapped as he grabbed Kagome's wrist and yanked her roughly toward him and flung her back into one of his pack mates. Kagome squeaked in surprise at the sudden move and found herself, once again, flung unceremonious over the shoulder of one of the wolves behind the blue-eyed leader.

"Hey! Put me down, I have feet you know!" Kagome snapped as she fought against her captor. Another wolf-man came behind the first and grabbed her wrists before twisting them both painfully behind her back. She fought and kicked and bit any of them that came close enough as she tried to wiggle her way out of their grasp. It took four of them to hold her in place long enough to tie her elbows behind her back, while they let out some rather nasty curses when one of them caught an elbow to the gut or a foot to the face. They first tried tying her wrists together, but she was able to wiggle her way free before they could tighten the bindings, so they tied her elbows together behind her, pulling her arms back painfully far and eliciting a cry of pain from her throat as the cords bit into her flesh.

She could hear growling and cursing nearby and knew that Inu-chan and the leader of the wolves must be fighting. Even though she was angry that Inu-chan had decided on his own that she would be his mate, she was still rooting for him to win. Even though he wasn't a dog anymore, he was still her friend, after all. Besides, she knew that Inu-chan was protecting her, these wolves were unknown to her and even through her anger, she still felt afraid of them. _'I think I liked him better as a dog...'_ Kagome thought to herself as she heard the raunchy curses that were steadily flying out of his mouth. Kagome felt herself placed on her feet and a rope was tied around her throat like a collar.

Kagome glared at the wolf holding the rope, but chose to ignore him as she turned to see what was happening between Inu-chan and the wolf leader. She gasped as she saw the carnal nature of the battle that was ensuing nearby. She could see blood stains all over Inu-chan's white shirt and it flowed freely down his left arm. The wolf leader had several smaller cuts on his arms and neck, but didn't appear to have any serious injuries. As she watched, Inu-chan lunged forward and the wolf dodged easily with an amazing burst of speed that far out-stripped the silver-haired dog man that he fought against.

"Move, bitch!" A sharp voice snapped as there was a violent jerk on the rope, making it tighten painfully around Kagome's neck. She felt her air cut off momentarily and swiveled her eyes back to the wolves that were tugging at her, heading single-file up and out through the entrance to the cavern.

"Inu-chan!" Kagome cry was cut off by another sharp tug at her _leash_ and she was forced to follow after the pack of wolves. She could hear cursing louder than ever behind her before there was a loud crash and the cave began to shake violently, making Kagome lose her balance and fall painfully to the rocky floor.

"Hijin-ketsusou!" Inu-chan's voice cried out and Kagome watched from her place on the floor as blood-red, sickle-shaped _blades_ flew through the air toward the wolf leader. Her eyes bulged from her head as the wolf dodged and the _blades_ made contact with the wall and shattered large chunks of stone from the wall, sending another shock-wave outward as the ground violently shook beneath their feet.

"Shine, inukoro!" The wolf's voice echoed through the air before Kagome could cry _'watch out'_, the wolf had run behind Inu-chan and brought his hand forward, claws glinting in the dim light. She heard a grunt of pain from Inu-chan and her heart stopped beating as tears stung her eyes. She stared in rapt shock and terror as she saw said clawed hand protruding from Inu-chan's chest stained red with his blood. Her protector's eyes were wide with shock and she felt herself falling forward as she pulled away from the wolves holding her captive and running toward him on shaky legs.

"Inu-chan!" She shrieked as tears stung her eyes and streamed down her face, blurring her vision. "No!"

**::FIN::**

**March 3, 2012**

**Notes**: Okay, sorry if the end of this chapter seemed rushed. I knew how I wanted to end it, but like the last six paragraphs were painful to write for some reason. The rest of the chapter just flowed out without ANY difficulties! Anyway, I did a once-over read-through before I posted so I hope I caught most of those nagging little typos and grammar/spelling issues that have slipped through before. As always, please review! Even if it's just to say 'Hey, love the story, peace!' Anyway, until next time, I'll be updating Kurayami next^^

**Translations**: Just thought I'd put a few of the words I used in this chapter. I watch subtitled anime so these are some of the terms/phrases pulled from the Japanese series.

**inukoro**: dog face, dog breath, mutt face (this is what Kouga always calls Inuyasha in the series)

**yaseokami**: wimpy wolf (this is what Inuyasha always calls Kouga in the series)

**Hijin-ketsusou**: Claws of Blood/Blades of Blood, this is Inuyasha's claw attack that he mixes with his own blood.

I'll probably use more of the Japanese names for attacks and weapons and whatnot because I just think they sound better personally. I'm not a fan of using random Japanese words during conversations (IE: characters saying 'Gomen' or 'Arigato', etc.) so I'll most likely ONLY be using it for attacks and weapons. Though I may through in a few words like 'onna', 'oyagi', 'oi', and maybe a few others.


	6. Chapter 5 Revelation

**Solstice**

**Notes**: 7,430 words | 11 pages Okay so I finally have an update for this^^ I'm sorry for the nasty cliffie in the last chapter! Anyway, if you want to follow my progress either peek at my profile or watch my Twitter Pokahydee_chan. I chopped my hair off on Sunday, it was down to my mid-thigh and is now at my shoulders. Gonna send it in to Locks of Love 3

_Edit:_ Somehow the formatting got messaged up and I had to go in fix it up a bit -.- The dialogue should be correct now without all the random, weird characters.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters thereof. Even though that is the case, please don't steal my plot, concept, or story out of respect for my creative endeavor as I would not do this to anyone out there.

- l - l - l - Change of scene, time, etc.  
_'Thoughts/dreams'_ will be in single quotes (IE: _' '_)

**Chapter 5 - Revelation**

He walked along clutching a broomstick without the broom attached as they crept silently along. He had imbued some of his reiki into the simple piece of wood, hoping that all of his hypothesis were correct. If he was wrong, it would mean certain death to him. He only hoped the tall woman walking behind him with a pole that had spear points on either end followed closely behind, keeping a lookout for anything out of the ordinary.

They had tiptoed out of the hotel and dashed nearly silently across the short expanse of open grass to the foliage of the forest where the trees offered some amount of cover. Though without the leaves, it wasn't much coverage and they couldn't find enough white material for three people to be able to blend into the snow-covered forest with much success. Miroku had settled for the two woman to be in white and made them pull white robes on over their coats that they'd found lying in the floor of the hallways they had crept along.

Every so often, he would sense something dark and looming as they crept silently along. Since Sango was very familiar with the outdoors, she could move through the forest in complete silence, even with the fallen sticks and leaves invisible in the snow. Likewise with Sachiko, who had a very wide, and surprising, range of skills.

He was searching for an aura that was weaker than the ones on those men from earlier. The aura they exuded had a heavy blackness that bared down on him with an oppressive darkness that he didn't want to meet head on until he had confirmed or denied his suspicions.

Miroku glanced at Sango's alert form out of the corner of his eyes and felt a nagging guilt tear at his insides. He knew she was hurt that he hadn't told her about the scroll he'd found hidden away in the cellar, he had seen it reflected in he eyes. His insecurity is what made him keep it from her, but he was too insecure to tell her that. Despite his outward confidence, he was really just trying to hide himself from everyone because he was too cautious to let himself get attached,especially to a beautiful woman. His father had dumped him off with his drunk friend and went chasing after some woman but he never came back. Likewise with his mother, she left when his father wouldn't stay faithful and left him behind. So he had never been able to allow himself to show his affections for Sango, hence the back and forth game they'd been playing since high school.

The hurt that he'd seen shining in her eyes was proof that she didn't know this about him. She must think him a horrible player that flirts, and gropes, any one of the female species. And yes, he did enjoy the feel of a woman's supple body, it was a release since he was too unsure to touch the body of the woman that had unwittingly become to mean something to him. A soft smile graced his lips as he remembered Kagome always trying to set the two of them up saying they were made for each other and he would always go along with it, but he would inevitably mess it up with his defense mechanism that neither woman understood.

His eyes widened slightly and he raised his hand behind him, motioning for them to stop. They were coming up on one of the strange auras that the aggressive animals exuded, though it was greatly weaker than the ones with the forms of men they had seen earlier. He gripped his pole tighter and reached his hand inside his coat and pulled one of the sutras he had made earlier from his inside pocket as silently as possible. He motioned for the woman to flank him but to also stay behind him slightly as he held the sutra up in front of him while he concentrated on forcing his reiki into the paper like Mushin had taught him as a kid. After a few minutes when he felt he'd put enough into it, he crept forward quietly with the women-folk following not too far back. As they stepped forward a strange thing happened... a dome sprang up over the tree of them that gave off a faint blue hue as a crackling sound filled his ears. He had never been able to see the dome that he had been trained to create so a confident look slowly slid across his lips. His hypothesis was being proven as they crept up in, it turned on to be a toad-looking creature that was holding a staff with the face of a man at the top on one side and the face of a woman on the other side at the top.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" The small green creature cried in a shrill voice as he trudged through the snow. Miroku's eyes widened in horror as he heard the thing speak words! He heard slight gasps behind him and knew that they had been just as surprised as he had been to hear it speak. He continued creeping forward until they were only about twenty feet away and crouched down to observe the creature. It didn't seem to be able to see them so a small smile played across his lips as he mentally sighed in relief.

"Meet you match, snow!" The creature yelled in obvious frustration at being slowed to a crawl by the calf deep snow that came up to the creature's chest. Miroku's mouth dropped open as the mouth of the man on it's staff dropped out and fire spewed out, scorching the ground in front of the creature while effectively melting the drifted snow. He could feel one of the women quaking with fear and realized they were both pressed up against him for support. He peeked over his shoulder at Sango and saw a look of defiance flit into her eyes, masking the fear he'd seen moments before. He knew that look... it always showed up before she did something brash a bull-headed, like rush into a room to save Tetsuyo and Sachiko's asses from that family of foxes.

As she stood back up to her full height and hefted her weapon, he grabbed her sleeve to get her attention. She turned annoyed eyes down on him and made to wrench herself free, but paused when he shook his head. He could feel something out there... something with an overwhelmingly large and dark aura nearby that had seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was much bigger than the ones he sensed in the fur-clad men earlier and overshadowed the little green guy in front of them by a very large margin. Something of his fear and unease at this sudden appearance must have shone on his face because she nodded and then kneeled down behind him once more, her eyes scanning the area to find what had spooked him so much.

The little green guy had come within five feet of them when Miroku felt the evil aura pulse once before a man descended from the trees with the remains of what looked like a cloud dissipating as his feet touched down lightly on the ground. Miroku gripped Sango's hand from behind him and concentrated harder on the blue bubble that surrounded them. Sachiko was latched onto his shoulder painfully hard as shudders of fear ran through her body, which he hardly felt because of the seriousness of the position they were currently in.

"Jaken." The man said in a deep, monotone voice as a foot connected with the back of the green creatures head. The tall man had long, silver hair that hung below his waist with cold, calculating gold eyes that promised pain of death as they lazily scanned the area.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! You have found me!" The toad-creature said as he looked up at the tall, sinister man with utter worship shining out and tears in the corners of his eyes. A large lump had formed on the back of the creature's head, but he seemed to not even notice. "As to be expected by a Lord of your grace and strength!"

"Jaken." The tall, silver-haired man said in the same deep, monotonous tone as he turned his piercing golden eyes on to the toad creature. The creature, Jaken, stiffened immediately and stood up taller as he recognized the obvious annoyance tinging the man's tone. "There is a priest about."

"A-a priest, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken said as a hint of surprise filtered into his gravely voice. "Where is this priest? I'll burn him to a crisp!" He cried as he lifted his staff up and began scanning the surrounding treeline.

"Hn." The tall one said as his one eyes scanned the area, searching lazily for the source. "He is not worth the time it would take to break his spell. His reiki is much too weak to offer a challenge."

Miroku involuntarily felt his shoulders relax as the tall man spoke. When he'd said there was a priest about, fear had coursed through his veins and made his heartbeat increase. The little green guy didn't see them at all, but the tall guy must be EXTREMELY strong if he could feel that someone was watching them. It seemed that the tall guy had no concerns about Miroku being around because he turned away from where they were hidden beneath the blue bubble and headed through the trees at a leisurely pace. The small green creature called Jaken scurried off after him and walked several feet behind him, staying in the path of the snow the tall man, Sesshoumaru, left behind him.

It was a long time before Miroku dare move but fatigue began to set in when he finally dropped the _barrier_ he had formed above them. He had waited for the evil aura of the creatures to fade into a dull spec before he dared to drop it. He reached his hand up to grip Sango's, which was on his shoulder for her comfort as much as his. Turning serious eyes to meet hers, he tilted his head to the side, indicating they were returning to the resort, which she acknowledged with a slight nod.

Even though he was having trouble keeping his eyes open as he leaned heavily against Sango, a confident smile played across his lips. He finally had a weapon against these creatures! Now that his hypotheses had been confirmed, he knew how to fight them!

- l - l - l -

She shivered uncontrollably as she trudged through the snow in her bare feet following the fur-clad men in front of her. The leader of the wolves, Kouga was his name, gave a sharp tug on her leash when she began to lag behind. Gods did her feet hurt! She had no _clue _how all of them could walk through the snow barefoot like it was nothing! They all seemed to have heightened senses so maybe they were more sturdy and the elements didn't affect them as much? She didn't know and frankly she didn't care at this point, she just knew she was COLD!

Her upper body had remained relatively warm from the red haori that Inu-chan, got to start thinking of him as Inuyasha, had draped over her shoulders. The rest of her was nearly frostbitten from her ears and the til of her nose, to her wet legs and feet that had a frozen robe rubbing up against them. Kouga affected not to notice her predicament as he urged her to move faster, something she was unable to do and only caused her to fall on her face in the calf-deep and _drifted_ snow. With her arms tied painfully behind her back, Kagome had no way to break her fall and a cry of pain ripped from her throat as the snow didn't cushion her fall from the stone beneath at all.

"Hold!" Kouga called in a loud, annoyed voice as he turned his electronic blue eyes to her fallen form. She spit snow out of her mouth and shivered uncontrollably as she struggled to get back to her feet when she didn't have the use of her arms. "What the hell, onna? You're slow as hell!"

"Of course I'll slow! I'm barefoot in the snow you asshole!" Kagome spat out angrily as she turned her angry hazel eyes up to meet his glare with one of her own.

"It doesn't bother any of us, human!" He snapped back as he grabbed her by one stiff elbow and hoisted her to her feet. She cried out as pain ripped up her arm from her sore limbs and a few tears involuntarily trickled from her eyes. "Kami-sama! How weak are you, bitch?" He snarled as he gripped her upper arm painfully tight with his pincer-like grasp and forced her to look him square in the eye.

"Umm... Kouga?" One of his companions spoke up tentatively, causing Kouga's glare to snap directly at the speaker. "It's been a while for all of us, but... well... humans are pretty frail... she probably is free-"

"I know that, idiot!" Kouga snapped back, though the bridge of his nose was slightly pink that he was trying to pass off as anger rather than embarrassment. It seemed to work on the wolf because he stiffened visibly from the statement. "For speaking out of turn, you're omega for a week and will do all the grunt work!" Kagome watched from the corner of her eye as a look of terror, embarrassment, and shame washed across the wolf's face before he visibly deflated and nodded his head in ascent.

"Let's go, onna." He grunted as he lifted her up and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Kagome's teeth her chattering and she felt more grateful than angry at this point since her bare feet and legs were no longer buried in the snow. The icy air felt warm on her stinging feet as she tried to bury as much of her neck and face into the red haori as possible.

Kagome felt Kouga start running and the wind that blew against her chilled body made anything that had once had feeling in it go completely numb. This brought an unexpected relief to Kagome's as the stinging pain faded and she began to feel somewhat warm. He mind drifted lazily, falling in and out of sleep and Kagome's numb brain vaguely noted that the sensations she was feeling were warning signs of extreme hypothermia. Though the thought played out in her mind, she was still unable muster strength to even keep her eyes open. All she saw was white anyway and occasionally she'd catch a glance of Kouga's tail or feet, but the endless white lulled her further into her drowsy stupor.

"Oi! Eyes open!" She heard Kouga's voice dully from somewhere but couldn't decipher where he was or what he wanted from her. She was jarred to wakefulness when she felt a sharp slap to her ass and felt her cheeks warm with indignation.

"How-daare uu!" Kagome slurred as she tried to chastise him for treating her like an animal, but her mouth wouldn't cooperate with the messages from her brain. _'BAD!'_ He brain screamed out in warning and she knew that she was in a dangerous situation. If she fell asleep, there was a good chance that she would never wake up at this point.

Every several minutes, when Kagome would feel the weariness tugging her eyelids down, she would feel a sharp slap to her ass again that would jolt her back into wakefulness. For that, ans only that, Kagome was grateful. If her hazy brain hadn't been so focused on keeping her eyes open, Kagome would be terrified at this point. She could tell they were moving quickly by the sound of the wind and the amount that she was being jarred as she hung rather lifelessly over his shoulder, but the longer they traveled, the less she was able to rouse herself when she felt his occasional slap. Eventually, the sound of the wind dulled in her ears and the jagged movements from his running became smooth and steady and she felt her eyes slide shut for the final time...

- l - l - l -

The steady drip-drip of something liquid was all he was aware of. The time of day didn't matter, who he was didn't matter, where he was were all irrelevant. He just lay still and listen to the stead drip-drip that came from nearby. An ear twitched as another sound registered in his mind... the sound of labored breathing... was that his breathing? He had no clue... didn't even know if he had a body right now, all he knew was the drip-drip sound that echoed around him. He wanted to know what was dripping because it was starting to piss him off.

He was aware that he had eyes and tried to force them open. After a few attempts, his eyes opened halfway and he found he did _indeed_ have a body. He was lying on the side of it right now and the obnoxious dripping down was some sort of dark liquid dripping off of his arm that was draped in front of him. The liquid had a decidedly coppery scent to it that made his nose sting by it's unpleasantness. Oh... he had a nose?

He could smell a multitude of scents around him as he lay motionless on the cold, stone floor. The majority of the scents made him cringe... he hated wolves... always had, and always would. Their vile odors permeated the air and made him feel slightly sick to his stomach. He could smell one of their scents on him and wanted to get up and do something to remove it or to cover it with something else. There was another scent that clung to his skin beneath the wolf stink that made his heart stick in his throat. It was a soft scent, distinctly female that reminded him of lilacs and a spicy smell that made his heartbeat increase in his chest.

He groaned as he forced himself to roll onto his stomach, cringing as pain wracked through his body. _'__Damn...'_ He growled in his head as he managed to pull himself to his hands and knees, albeit shakily. He knew the injury was severe even though it had started to heal already. He really shouldn't be moving just yet but his intended was taken by wolves so he had to go. She still lived, the bond his mark had created told him that much and gave him a direction, but with her at this distance that's about all he could tell. The good news was that the bond was intact, so that meant the mangy mongrel hasn't mated her and severed the bond.

He growled in anger and pain as he forced himself up to his knees and he was forced to stop and catch his breath. He needed to hurry, there was no telling how long he'd been unconscious on the floor or how far they'd already taken her. As injured as he was, there was no way he would be able to catch them on foot, especially with the natural speed of the pack's alpha. That damn wolf pissed him off to no end, when he'd regained his true form Inuyasha had been forced to run and hide rather than stand and face him. He was too new to his true form for his full strength to have awakened yet while that bastard had had _weeks_ already to adjust! Didn't matter, when Inuyasha caught up, he would rip him limb from limb for all of the bullshit he'd had to take while he'd been stuck as a dog! He would get his mate back!

Inuyasha flexed his claws angrily as he forced his body to listen and got to his feet. He took a few shaky steps forward to the nearly hidden exit hidden in the wall. He could smell the crisp, cold air through the opening and forced his legs to move forward on step at a time. His wound was jarred with every unsteady step, but he ignored the pain and feeling of liquid trickling down the front of his body. He painfully pulled himself up the steps that were cut into the stone, bracing himself against the wall with one hand to steady his balance while the other clutched the front of his chest where the wound bled openly.

With on harsh shove, he managed to roll the stone back from his childhood hideout. It had served it's purpose but was now virtually useless since the wolves knew where it was. His mother had told him it was created by his father, though he had never met the man, as a place to hide and protect them while he was young. When he had rescued the human female, he could think of no other place that would offer better resources and protection than this place.

He cursed himself inwardly for not completing the mating process and stopping at the marking stage. His mark would repel any youkai who was weaker than he was because of the youki he had injected into her body to create it. It didn't, however, prevent a youkai who was equally as strong or stronger than him from touching her. That only happened when they were truly mated. At that point, since Inu youkai mated for life, no other male would be able to lay even a _finger_ on her! While he had been in his dog form, that would have been an awkward and almost impossible feat for him to accomplish, though.

He wasn't really sure what drew him to the female, but something about her beckoned to him. Her scent was absolutely delectable to him and when he caught the scent of her fear, he would use it as an excuse to stay as close to her as possible. The same with when she was sleeping, he'd use keeping her safe and warm as an excuse to lay his head on her and lick her exposed throat comfortingly.

He wasn't the only one drawn to her apparently, since that bastard wolf had challenged him for her when she was slumped over and pale in that room with the big metal bowls all over the place. Inuyasha had bested him then and bested him again when he'd conned those disgusting crows into distracting the humans so he could rescue her. The wold wouldn't take a hint, though! Even though he had been bested in a challenge _twice_ and the female in question bore his mark, yet the damn wolf still seemed to think he had some claim on her! Inuyasha would just have to show him differently! If only the ground would stop shaking beneath his feet.

His breath came out in small clouds of steam as he trudged through the drifted snow that came up nearly to his waist at times. He used his claws and unsteadily sliced a thick, low-hanging limb from a tree to use as a crutch. His vision was going in and out of focus and he knew he'd lost too much blood to be moving, but he forced his feet forward anyway. He only hoped his wound was properly sealed and had healed up enough by the time he caught up. He also had to hope she could hang on long enough without him there to protect her.

"Fuck..." He growled as anger coursed through his veins, keeping his feet moving forward as fast as he could in his injured state.

- l - l - l -

Kagome felt calm and content. She felt like she was floating and was so incredibly warm she concluded she must be in heaven. She could vaguely remember the cold and laying limply over a shoulder, but she couldn't recall who's shoulder not why she would be over it in the first place. She heaved and contented sigh and a smile touched her lips. She was too comfortable and tired to even open her eyes so she just snuggled down deeper into the warmth that was wrapped around her protectively.

When she felt a body shift beside her and an arm tighten around her waist, she sensed something was wrong. The smell surrounding her was all wrong. She was surrounded in a musky scent rather than the fresh scent of the forest. The body wrapped around her was wrong too, the hold was too tight... to _possessive_ rather than gentle and protecting.

Kagome's eyes popped open and a blood-curdling scream ripped from her throat when she was met with a pair of unfamiliar blue eyes staring at her with a smirk tipping up one side of his mouth. She put her hands on his bare chest and shoved herself violently backward from him as the scream streamed from her mouth. The only reason she was able to push him away was because of the way he visibly winced at the cry and covered his ears with both hands.

"Dammit bitch! Don't fucking shriek like that!" He growled out as Kagome scooted herself backward across a cold, stone floor until her shoulders met with the wall.

She immediately regretted rashly shoving away from him when a blast of cold air hit her practically nude body. She was draped in a fur dress of sorts that barely came down to her thighs and was tight across the bust, straining to hold in her breasts. She crossed her arms over her chest and tucked her feet underneath of her as he tried to cover herself as best she could, a brilliant scarlet staining her cheeks.

"Where are my clothes?" She cried out in anger and mortification. _Someone_ had to have stripped her from the robe and haori she'd been wearing and she was just hoping against hope that it hadn't been the man growling in front of her as he rubbed at his pointed ears. A sudden thought hit her and Kagome felt tears begin to sting her eyes. _'Inu-chan...'_ She thought as she remembered seeing blood dribbling from his mouth as pain flashed into his eyes.

"Where's Inu-chan?" She demanded angrily as tears began to slide down her cheeks. With the adrenaline wearing off, Kagome was becoming aware of just how badly her muscles ached. It felt like she had run a Marathon with a 70 pound pack on her back! Muscles she didn't even know _existed_ were hurting! I mean, come on, who the HELL would know that you have a muscle in your big toe? Even her toes were sore!

"Heh, that mutt is as good as dead." The wolf said with a smirk as he stopped rubbing at his ears and turned his ice-blue eyes up to meet her hazels.

Her vision was blurred ad the tears flowed and she rose painfully to her feet. She used to wall to balance herself as she noticed how wobbly her legs were and fear gripped her. _'I have to get back to him!'_ She thought as she took a few shaky steps toward what looked like the exit of a cave. She shivered uncontrollably and tried to reason with herself internally that _of course_ he was still alive! He was really strong and healed super fast! Of course he was still alive!

"Oi! Just where the hell do you think you're going?" The wolf growled out. What was his name again? Kouga, right? She felt a strong hand clamp down on her wrist firmly, preventing her from taking another step.

"I'm going to find my friend." She said angrily as she pulled her wrist from his clawed hand. Before she could take another step, she felt her back hit the wall and a pair of hands on her shoulders pressing her back further.

"You're not going anywhere, bitch." Kouga growled out as he pressed her up against the wall, using his body to keep her pinned.

"Let me go!" Kagome cried out in anger as she tried to shove the shirtless wolf away from her. She vaguely noted that he was hard as a rock and had finely chiseled abs and pecks, but was too anger and scared to appreciate the view. Not that she wanted anything to do with him, he _had_ kidnapped her and gravely wounded, potentially killed, her dog-eared friend.

"I finally got the dog stink off you. There's no way you're leaving here to get covered in the scent of DEAD dog!" He growled out angrily as he grabbed her chin and tilted her face up to look at him. Angry tears streaked down her cheeks as she glared up at him. "Now, tell me where it is and I may decide to mate you instead of kill you." His blue eyes turned cold and unforgiving as he stared down at her.

"Where _what_ is?" Kagome hissed angrily as she tried to pull her chin from his hand. His grip was like steel, though, so she was unable to turn away from his penetrating gaze.

"Don't play dumb with me, human!" He snarled as he released her face and punched his fist into the wall next to her head. She cried out in surprise and squeezed her eyes shut, fear coursing through her veins.

"I... I d-don't know what you're talking about?" Kagome stammered as she gathered her nerves to look back into his blue eyes defiantly. She gave away her nervousness when she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. He stared back intently and his eyes narrowed as his grip on her shoulders tightened. She winced slightly as she felt his claws pressing into her delicate skin.

"Don't play dumb with me! Give me the Shikon no Tama already, bitch!" He snarled as his eyes flashed red before returning to the normal ice blue.

"The what? I don't know what you're talking about!" Kagome cried as she tried to push away from the snarling man, tears sliding down her cheeks as fear gripped her entire being. She _did_ know what the Shikon no Tama was... well... kinda... There was a story that her grandfather used to tell her about the jewel since he insisted it originated from their shrine, but for the life of her, she could never remember it in full. She just believed the stories were meant to teach you some lesson that you're supposed to learn from with a moral and all, but she had never really even _listened_ to the message. After all, her grandfather would try to give her a history lesson on the _pickles_ her mother bought at the supermarket!

"Don't play dumb with me! I _know_ you have it!" Kouga snarled angrily as he tried to force the information from the human girl in front of him. Her scent was getting on his nerves, the salt smell of tears and the sharp aroma of her fear was making his nose sting. He hated when females cried, he really did. She was a _human_ so he shouldn't _care_ if she cried, but something about her natural scent just drove him NUTS! When she had been covered in that pathetic dog's scent, he had nearly gone insane trying to get it off of her. As it stood, there was still a slight hint of dog, more than likely put there by the mark he'd placed on her hip. There was another bite mark on the junction of her neck to her shoulder and he felt a growl rumbling in the back of his throat as his eyes fell on it.

"I really don't know what you're talking about!" Kagome cried in fear as she turned her face away, her eyes squeezing shut. Her anger had melted away to pure fear as he stood above her, bearing down on her.

"Damn it! Stop fucking crying!" Kouga growled as he took in the sight of her tear-stained face. Her scent was swirling around him and harsh scent of her fear was making in cringe. He leaned in and buried his nose in her neck and breathed in that intoxicating aroma deeply.

Kagome squeaked in surprise when she felt Kouga bury his face into her neck and still-moist hair and breath in deeply on the opposite side of her bite-mark from Inu-chan. He pressed himself up against her and she felt her face involuntarily heat up in embarrassment as his hands gripped her hips firmly and he pressed himself up against her. _'Oh my Kami! What the hell is he doing?'_ Her mind screamed as she felt him run his tongue along the column of her neck, his warm breath causing goosebumps to erupt across her already chilled skin. She squirmed against him, trying to free herself from his firm grip, but he was too strong.

"What spell have you put on me, human?" Kouga growled low in his throat as he pressed his hips up against hers. She was just a human, why was her scent so addicting? Her skin tasted sweet and tangy and was soft and supple. He could smell embarrassment coming from her, the fear scent gone and replaced with uncertainty and surprise.

"Get off of me! I haven't done _anything_!" Kagome cried as she squeezed her eyes shut and pushed with all her strength against his bare chest. When she felt his hands sliding up over her stomach, she screamed and grabbed his shoulders, sinking her blunt nails into the skin and shoved. A warm sensation spread out from her stomach and went to her hands that were scrambling to push him away. With another frustrated cry, eyes tightly shut, she shoved and felt his hands and mouth leave her body. Her legs buckled and she slid down the wall, feeling suddenly tired.

Kagome opened her eyes slowly when she didn't hear anything but a quiet sizzling sound and the smell of something burning filled the air. She could help but gasp in surprise as she took in the sight in front if her. Laying sprawled on the ground ten feet from her was Kouga's immobile form. He lay on his back with his eyes closed and wisps of smoke drifted lazily up from him. She could make out burns on his shoulders and hands from where she sat on the floor in rapt attention, waiting for him to get up, to move, to do _anything_.

When he didn't move after several minutes, she rose to her feet shakily and took a tentative step toward his half-clad body. He was only wearing some kind of fur tunic around his waist with fur knee-high _socks_ that went under his feet like stirrup pants. As she stepped closer, she could see the extent of the damage, though the cause was unknown to her. There were angry red marks on his shoulders where she had been pushing against him and welts on the hands that had been roving over her minutes before. Uncertainty gripped her chest as she looked toward the mouth of the cave, not knowing if she should see if her kidnapper was all right or if she should just make a break for it while she had the chance.

Kagome swallowed thickly, pushing down the guilt she felt at his odd injuries and made her decision. To hell with unknown outside the door! Whatever awaited her out there was _undoubtedly_ better than sticking with an unconscious rapist! Besides, she could tell by the gentle rise and fall of his chest that he was still alive! There was a problem besides walking into something that could potentially be very dangerous... her state of dress was less than ideal for the harsh mountainous region they were in that was currently covered in a thick sheet of snow.

As she was passing his unconscious form, she shrieked in surprise as she heard a shrill noise and felt something latch tightly onto her ankle. She immediately began kicking her feet trying to dislodge whatever it was that was sinking sharp claws into the soft skin, eyes squeezed shut as she stumbled toward the doorway.

"Let go of me!" Kagome cried out as tears stung in her eyes as fear gripped her.

"Ita-ita itai!" A small voice squeaked from below her and she felt the grip on her ankle tighten. The voice sounded young... and scared so she squeezed one eye open and looked down at a small ball of reddish fur that was latched tightly onto her anklet, holding onto her for dear life. Her fear drained away as her curiosity peaked at seeing the flurry orange _tail_ on the rear end of what looked like a young child. "Hidoi!" The small voice cried as he turned emerald eyes up to her as tears swam in them.

"I-I'm sorry." Kagome squeaked in surprise as she stared down into the scared, pouty face of a young child. He had reddish hair adorning his head, a big fluffy tail, and tiny paws that were currently dug into her ankle. "Kawaii..." She mused as she leaned down and rubbed her hand down his fluffy tail.

"Hands off the tail, human!" The little ball of fur snapped as he released her leg and jumped back, holding his tail out of her reach. She could tell the little guy was putting on a brave face to not look weak because she could see his knees shaking as he stared her down. "I stink like _human_ now!" He grumbled out as he smoothed the fur out.

Kagome frowned as she looked down at him, trying to figure out just what he was. He sure didn't look like a wolf and she doubted he would be running terrified in _Kouga's_ area if he were! Since the passed out wolf appeared to be their leader. She puzzled for a moment about the kid and bent down, sitting on her heels to survey him. He didn't look dangerous even as he let out a cute little growl. He looked the same as when she first saw him... ADORABLE!

"What's your name?" Kagome asked, forgetting her own fear and letting a smile settle onto her lips. The little boy in front of her looked both ways before glaring up at her.

"That's none of your damn business, human!" He said in his impression of a snarl. Kagome couldn't help the giggle that escaped as she looked at him.

"You know it's frowned on when kids your age curse, right?" She asked as she stifled her giggle when she saw the annoyed look on his face and the reddened cheeks as he flushed in embarrassment.

"Shut up! I'm not a kid!He growled out angrily as the fur on his tail bristling as his anger peaked. "You must be the miko they're all going on about! Bet they're gonna eat you for dinner tonight."

"Ne, where are your parents?" Kagome asked solemnly as she continued to smile softly at the small child. He reminded her a lot of her brother Souta when he had been just little like that.

"None of your business!" The kid snapped back as he took a step back from her. A male-sounding groan made the kid jump in the air with a scared squawk and jump into Kagome's arms, burying his face in her bosom.

"Damn, that blast had some kick to it." Kouga's voice groaned out and before he even began picking himself up, Kagome bolted for the exit with the small child clutched protectively in her arms.

"I'm in trouble..." Kagome whispered as she ran full speed down the darkened passageway, her bare feet slapping against the floor as she headed into who knows what in front of her.

"Run faster, human!" She heard the kid yell as she continued her blind dash through the semi-darkness of the cave. _'I HATE caves!'_ Kagome thought to herself as she grit her teeth against the small pebbles and stones that had her feet aching and her sliding across the smooth stone. She could feel the little boy shaking with fear and adrenaline pumped through her veins as she made her dash for freedom.

Finally... light ahead! A relieved smile spread across Kagome's lips as the tunnel lit up at the end ahead of her. She put on a burst of speed, her lungs aching and her breathing labored. She'd lost count of the number of injuries that she had covering her aching body, but all that mattered at the moment was getting through that brightly lit passage!

Kagome skid to a stop as she passed through the light and her jaw dropped in shock and terror. Spread out before her was a large open cavern and laying every which way were wolves, wolves, and more wolves! _'It's not fair!'_ Her mind screamed as she began to walk backward, trying to trace her steps before any of the wolves, humanoid and none, noticed that she was there.

"You're stronger than I thought, bitch." Kouga's voice said nearby Kagome's ear and she cried out as she felt his arms encircle her waist and pull her back into his broad chest. "You might do for a mate after all." He purred into her ear seductively.

- l - l - l -

Inuyasha could feel his injuries knitting back together as he walked, but it was a painfully slow process and he was still suffering from blood loss. His head swam with every step he took, but he trudged on, knowing that he had to find her before that filthy wolf did anything to her. That female belonged to _him_! Her scent was enough to drive him mad with desire, when she's refused him back in the cave, he'd nearly lost himself and completed the mating ritual right then and there. If it hadn't been for the scent of salt water, he wouldn't have been able to stop. He had always been a sucker when a female cried. He really couldn't stand when they cried, especially if it was his fault. He blamed it on when he would see his mother cry when he was a child, but he shook that memory from his mind as he pressed on.

He was still leaning heavily on the thick branch to make sure he didn't lose his footing, but he was starting to feel a _little_ more stead... though not by much. It was times like these that Inuyasha wished he were stronger; if he were more like his father, he would have been healed by now.

One thing that made him look up was the fact that he was getting closer to his claim. He could very faintly feel some of the things she was feeling, though they were garbled and faded at this distance. He knew wolves were fast, but the pack leader must have been exceptionally fast to have gotten this far this quickly _with_ half of his pack in tow! Inuyasha growled low in his throat at this revelation and was forced to stop for a moment to catch his breath.

Blood was leaking slowly from his chest wound and sliding thickly down his already blood-soaked kusode. Even with his heritage, he was feeling to cold and numbly noted that the wind was picking up. Even injured as he was, his hearing and sense of smell was still as strong as ever and he could _hear_ the storm that was brewing. It was going to be a NASTY blizzard in the next several hours! If only he could time it right, it might be just the thing he needs to spirit his claim away to safety.

"Fucking move!" Inuyasha growled to his legs as he stood rooted to the spot trying to stay upright. He hadn't realized the extent of the injury until he's stopped moving and his legs had decided they wanted to ignore his commands. His head felt fuzzy and he just wanted to sleep, but a clear spike of fear in the back of his head made his eyes snap fully open and he forced his feet to begin moving again. Apparently, she was awake... and something had terrified her to her very core... He needed to hurry!

**::FIN::**

**May 15, 2012**

**Notes**: So this is it for this chapter! I hope you're all enjoying it! I'm absolutely LOVING this story, you'll get more information in the next chapter regarding some of the characters I've shown and about 'youkai' in general (since the characters don't even know what these 'creatures' are yet~.^). Anyway, as always, please review and let me know what you like/dislike/how I'm doing/etc.


	7. Chapter 6 Submission

**Solstice**

**Notes**: 6,400 words | 10 pages - So FFnet BUTCHERED the formatting of my last chapter... All of my dialogue quotes were left open and Kouga's name was missing a number of times -.- Hence the reason I was forced to re-upload the last chapter. Should be fixed now... This is a little shorter than the last few chapters, but I was at a really good stopping point so until next time! Kurayami no Naka de Hikari will be updated next!

**Chapter 6 – Submission**

The child Kagome was still clutching to her chest managed to wiggle his way out of her arms and drop to the ground. As she reached down to scoop him up, she saw him hold a leaf to his forehead and, in a puff of smoke... disappear! Her eyes bulged out as the kid was just _gone_!

"Grab that kitsune brat before he sneaks out." Kouga said offhandedly as he lifted Kagome up and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Put. Me. Down." Kagome said in a deathly quiet voice as fire seemed to fill her veins. Her ridiculously short fur dress was hiked almost up to her waist and his hand was squeezing her butt as he balanced her on his shoulder casually.

"A bitch needs to learn her place and shut the fuck up." Kouga snarled as he smacked her on the ass like he'd done before to keep her awake. This time, instead of feeling gratitude, she felt white hot _fury_ burning inside her. _'That sexist pig!'_Her inner voice snarled and that warm sensation she had felt earlier when she'd sent him flying across the room returned.

"Umm, Kouga?" A meek voice said from their right, grabbing the attention of the arrogant wolf. Kouga's eyes narrowed on the mohawked wolf in front of him, but he indicated for him to say whatever he'd started saying. "The human is glowing..."

"Hmm?" Kouga mused as he turned his eyes to look down at Kagome. "Heh, you're right. This little bitch has spunk."

Kagome was slightly surprised when he placed her feet back on the ground. She gave him a confused look and the warm sensation slowly faded away. Before she could react, he caught her chin in his hand and slammed his lips onto hers. Eyes widening in surprise, Kagome was frozen like a deer in the headlights when she felt his tongue slide into her mouth and rub across her own roughly. His hand pressed her body close to him as it found her lower back and before she could even comprehend what was happening and get angry, he pulled back and smirked down at her.

"I'll enjoy breaking her." Kouga said grinning down at her, his eyes glinting maliciously as he licked his lips in anticipation. His hand enclosed around her wrist and tugged her still stunned form after him. She followed obediently and slowly raised a hand to touch her lips. They were already back in the cavern she'd awoken in when the anger hit.

"What the hell?" Kagome yelled as she ripped her wrist out of his hand. "Who do you think you are that you can just _do_that to me?"

"Shuttup woman. You're mine fair and square. I beat that mutt in a duel so you belong to me now and I'll do what I want with you." Kouga growled out as he raised up to his full height and glared down at her.

"I don't belong to you or ANYONE!" Kagome yelled, stomping her foot in anger at his possessiveness. "I belong to me!" Kouga's eyes flashed and before Kagome could cry out in fear, she felt her back meet the wall and a pair of hands squeezing her upper arms painfully tight.

"I bested that fucking mutt so his claim belongs to me. If he had twelve tramps, they'd all belong to me. I doubt that mutt could even manage one since he obviously hasn't even rutted you yet!" Kouga snarled out angrily, his fangs showing as he stared her down.

Kagome's cheeks immediately began to burn in embarrassment at Kouga's term _rutting_. _'Does Inu-chan really want that from me?'_Kagome thought to herself as she blushed furiously, completely forgetting about the angry wolf bearing down on her. She couldn't help but picture Inu-chan's bare chest as glistening drops of water streamed down his pale skin and into the soft silver hair that lead down from his belly button to an area that had been submerged in water and out of her view. Her imagination kept running wild and she pictured the water lowering and revealing what the water had hidden... his manhood, large and ready for her. She shook the image of his glistening body from her mind when she looked up and saw piercing, hooded blue eyes boring into hers. Definitely NOT the beautiful golden eyes she'd pictured that belonged to her Inu-chan.

"Hmm... like what you see, bitch?" Kouga growled out in a low, sensual tone. He pressed her up against the wall and breathed in her scent deeply, the sweet scent of female arousal filling his nose with it's delectable aroma. "You smell so fucking good." He growled out as he felt a pang of excitement below the belt.

"Would you stop that!" Kagome growled as she snapped out of her daydream violently. She shoved against his chest, not wanting his hands to touch her. His eyes were cold and he was way too pushy and forward with her. When Inu-chan had held her against him, he had been trying to keep her quiet. And even when he had let go of her mouth, he had been more playful and teasing than forceful like the brute before her.

"Heh, I like you. That spirit is sexy." Kouga said with a smirk as he let the human female push him away. She seemed surprised when she stumbled forward and it took several steps for her to catch her balance.

He found himself losing more control the longer he was around her. _'How is it that a HUMAN can smell so _intoxicating_?'_ He wondered vaguely as he studied her from several paces away. He had _never_ met a human that he thought smelled good in his life, so why now? Did it have to do with her spiritual powers? Somehow, he doubted that was the reason. She wasn't the first female with spiritual powers he had met. He winced slightly at the stinging pain on his shoulders from the angry red burns she'd left on him. Heightened healing abilities didn't mean shit if you were burned by spiritual powers. If she had been able to control it, she could have purified him completely and far from scaring him, it actually _turned him on_that she could hold her own against him.

Kouga flopped down on his bed, which consisted of some straw for padding, covered by a stack of heavy furs for comfort and warmth. He leaned back against the wall lazily with his hands crossed behind his head. He hadn't forgotten his original goal of locating the Shikon no Tama, but the strange human female has his interest piqued. He assumed he needed to at least rut her once or twice to get her out of his system. Maybe eventually mate her even though she was human, but she would have to prove her worth beyond a few spiritual burns.

"So, you got a name, bitch?" He questioned conversationally as he peeked one eye open at her. He smirked in amusement as she puffed up indignantly and crossed her arms over her breasts, inadvertently pushing them up and giving him a view of generous cleavage. He couldn't help but lick his suddenly dry lips as he stared at her mostly bared body.

"Of course I have a name, you pervert!" She snapped angrily, but made no move to approach the wolf that had just been groping her. "Not that _you_need to know!" She snapped as she sent a nasty glare in his direction. If she hadn't seen how fast the wolf laying leisurely on the bed in front of her was, she may have attempted an escape again. She could see the muscles taut in his legs as he appeared to be relaxing. He was watching her intently and even if she did make it back to the main part of the cave, there was no way she'd make it passed the whole freaking pack!

"Just tell me your fucking name or I'll just call you koneko-chan." Kouga said as his eyebrow ticked in annoyance at the strong-willed bitch standing defiantly before him. Kagome's cheeks flushed in anger and she balled her hands into fists at her sides. _'The _nerve_ of this guy!'_ Her thoughts screamed in her mind. _'The most arrogant, self-assured, cocky asshole in the universe!'_

"The name is Higurashi-san to _you_!" She snarled back as she pointedly refused to take even one step closer to the perv. She had thought Miroku was a perv until she had met this jerk! She would never call him a lecher again if she managed to get away from the pointy-eared man!

"I don't like that." Kouga said lazily as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, his head cradled between his hands. "I think I'll just call you koneko-chan anyway. Or maybe usagi-chan, they're more innocent than kittens."

"U-usagi-chan? I'm not three years old, you arrogant jerk!" She snapped, her anger only rocketing up higher at his cutesy little names. "My name is Kagome!" She immediately snapped her mouth shut, inwardly cursing herself for losing her temper and revealing her real name. _'Dammit dad!'_ Kagome thought to herself angrily. _'Why'd you have to pass me your damn temper! Why couldn't I be laid back like mom?'_

"Ah Kagome! I like that!" Kouga said as he say up and beamed over at her, giving her a little wink.

Kagome felt her cheeks heating up in embarrassment at the gesture and her back stiffened visibly. She wasn't sure what his next move was going to be. One minute he was slamming his fist through Inu-chan's chest, the memory making her chest ache with sorrow and worry. Then he was dragging her through the snow forcefully to his cave. He kept her awake long enough in her hypothemic state to get her to safety, but then tries to force himself on her after threatening to kill her if she didn't give him some legendary jewel! And NOW, he was acting all nice and flirty with her! _'What is this guy's deal?'_She inwardly questioned as she eyed him suspiciously.

"You need to relax, you're gonna get gray hair if you stay that stressed out." Kouga commented idly as he leaned back against the wall.

"Relax? How the hell can I relax?" Kagome snapped as her temper flared again and she raised herself up angrily. "You kidnapped me and then tried to force yourself on me!" She cried as she gestured wildly with her hands.

"Humph, claim or no claim, I'm not into forcing myself on an unwilling bitch." Kouga growled out in annoyance as he glared at the angry human female.

"Stop calling me a bitch! It's very derogatory, you jerk!" Kagome snapped back, attitude flaring. The _nerve_of him saying he wasn't like that when he had clearly shown her earlier that he was like that.

"Maybe to you humans, but to us wolves, it's what we call females." Kouga said in an amused tone as he watched her cheeks redden and her hands ball into fists. _'Damn this bitch is sexy when she's pissed.'_ He mused as he eyed her up and down, taking in her long, milky legs and rounded hips. He just needed some time to win her over because he wasn't about to rut her by force, he'd get her to _beg_him to give herself to him. He had all the time in the world since that stupid mutt was dead.

Kouga couldn't believe it had taken him that long to kill the sneaky little fucker. The damn mutt only came out when it was a snowstorm or during the early morning when his pack was hunting for food or resting so by the time they'd get to his suspected territory, his scent would have been hidden and footprints erased so they had no idea he was actually underground! It had been the girl's muffled scream beneath his feet that had given away his hole. He'd go back in a few days to string up his dead body as a warning to any others that dare invade his pack's territory.

"Kouga-san." A timid voice called from the doorway, causing Kagome to jump in alarm at the new presence. She hadn't heard a thing behind her as the person speaking approached. "Umm... it seems that the kitsune pup managed to sneak out. We have a small party tracking him, there is a blizzard brewing so he won't get far."

"How the FUCK did a hundred _warriors_allow some little BRAT sneak by them?" Kouga growled as he jumped to his feet and stalked toward the terrified looking wolf standing in the doorway, knees shaking as he looked about to wet himself.

"I-I don't know, Kouga-san." The wolf said meekly as he tilted his head to the side and turned his eyes to the floor as a sign of submission. Kagome also noted that his tail was between his legs like a chastised dog as he tried to make himself as small as possible under Kouga's gaze.

"Sniff that little brat out! That was supposed to be my dinner tonight!" Kouga growled back as he shoved the other wolf out of the entrance to the cave. Kagome gasped at what he said and her eyes filled with tears instantaneously.

"No!" She yelled as she ran after Kouga down the dimly lit tunnel. He turned ice-blue eyes toward her in a dark glare as he reached back and grabbed her wrist firmly, pulling her up against him.

"Submit, bitch." He snarled angrily as he grasped her hair and tilted her head sideways, forcefully. There was a time and a place for her fiery temper, but right now was not that time while there were subordinates around to see.

"You can't hurt that poor kid!" Kagome cried as she tried to pry his fingers from her hair with her free hand.

"I said submit!" He growled out angrily, his eyes flashing as he forced Kagome to her knees. She cried out in pain at the pressure on her wrist and her tears streamed thickly from the pain of his grip.

"Please..." She whispered as she turned her face to the ground and stuffed her free hand into her mouth to stifle the sob that threatened to rip from her throat. Only then did she feel the pressure on her wrist loosen and release.

She dropped to the ground and cradled her sore wrist as she rubbed at the tears that ran down her cheeks, trying to erase the sign of weakness. He grabbed her by her upper arm, not squeezing too hard, and hoisted her to her feet. She followed along as she was ushered back into his chambers and forced onto his bed in the corner.

"When you catch that little brat, bring him to me." Kouga commanded before dismissing the submissive wolf back to his duties. Then he rounded on Kagome, his cheek ticking in anger as he glared down at her hunched form. "You can't challenge me in front of my subordinates, moron! If I can't control one human bitch, all order will be broken down! I'm going to teach you to submit to me!"

Kagome lifted her face up tentatively, not liking the anger she heard in his voice. She kept her face carefully blank and took in his words. It made sense that he would have to maintain a certain air about him in the presence of those that followed him, but who was he really? She wasn't sure if she should fear him, or feel bad for him since he could never truly be himself around his pack. She had always heard the term _it's lonely at the top_, but this was the first time she'd ever actually SEEN it. So who was he? The arrogant jerk that flung her over his shoulder? The angry monster demanding obedience and dishing out punishments for minor infractions? Or the carefree, laid back but still confident man that had been giving her cutesy nicknames until she got pissed and blurted out her real name? It was a puzzle she desperately needed to solve because it may lead to her eventual escape from Kouga.

"It's time for your punishment, Kagome." He said in a deadly soft voice, his ice blue eyes looking as cold and frozen as the world outside of the cave.

He advanced slowly with a grace she hadn't even taken note of before. It was the grace of a _predator_ and SHE was the prey! The strong muscles of his legs rippled as he stalked toward her and a lump formed in her throat as her fear began to build. She scooted back across the bed quickly, eyes wide and confused. His movements blurred as he pounced forward, pinning her down against the pile of furs before she was truly even aware he had moved. He held her hands above her head and her legs were pinned down by his much heavier body as he straddled her. _'He wouldn't... would he?'_ Kagome silently wondered as she swallowed thickly, staring up into his eyes that looked like two chips of ice as he assessed her trembling form. _'He said he wouldn't force anything... Or was he just playing another role to put me at ease?'_ She worried her bottom lip with her teeth as he leaned in closer. Her eyes instinctively closed as his face lowered slowly toward her and her breath stuck in her throat. _'Please don't...'_She silently begged as she felt soft lips trailing across her own.

- l - l - l -

Inuyasha trudged along the deep snow, the cold slowly seeping into his bones in a way that it hadn't done since he'd been just an orphaned kid. Even without the fire rat robe on his upper half, he shouldn't feel the cold as strongly. The flow of blood from his chest wound had, thankfully, stopped several minutes ago. He still felt light-headed and woozy from blood loss, but at least he wasn't going to die from bleeding out. It also meant that the wound had healed enough for the wound to clot, which meant that by the time he found that mangy fucker, he could take him on. That is, so long as the wound didn't break open in the process.

He could feel and hear the wind picking up more and more the further he trudged through the snow. The storm would hit within a few hours and he had no idea how much longer it would take for him to reach his mate. With the way things were going, he wasn't sure he would be able to make it there before the scents were washed away by the moisture and the snow. As it stood, he could only pick up on the slightest hint of her scent as he followed the almost non-existent footprints of the pack in the snow.

"Fuck..." Inuyasha growled out as he leaned heavily on his makeshift crutch to help save some of his energy. He had already followed three paths that turned out to just be scouting trails and had to double back until he found her scent again. Now it was so incredibly thin, he almost couldn't catch it at all. And with the unfamiliar area, he could only feel the general area of his mate, not the path he needed to take to get there. He needed to take the most direct route and not have to mess around with rugged terrain that slowed his already slow progress to a crawl.

He sniffed the air once more and caught a different scent that he hadn't noticed before. It smelled like a kitsune, and a young one at that. But what the hell was a kit that young doing alone? He knew how protective kitsune were over their cubs from experience. It was not something he wanted to do again... So he decided to just skirt around the brat in case his parents were somewhere upwind from him so their presence hidden. That is, until he caught a strong whiff of _her_ scent that made his back stiffen in alarm! _'Why does a kit brat have my mate's scent covering him?'_He growled to himself as he turned in the direction of the sweet scent of his claimed bitch.

As Inuyasha slouched through the snow, now using the branch as leverage to push himself through the snow, he felt a pang of suspicion come through the weak bond from his mate. There was no fear in the bundle of emotions he could faintly feel from her so that was definitely a good thing. Again he cursed himself for not finishing the ritual. What he could sense from her was faint and hard to notice let alone to decipher unless she was feeling particularly strong about something.

As he approached the kit, he paused to lean his branch up against a tree since it was encumbering his ability to move quietly and crept as quietly as the snow allowed toward the unsuspecting kit. Thankfully, the wind was picking up so the small amount of noise he was making would be covered up, also he as upwind of the brat so his scent wouldn't give him away. Kitsune didn't have as sensitive sense of smell so the heavy blood smell shouldn't be noticed either.

Inuyasha positioned himself behind a broad tree and peeked one eye around it to find a tiny kit with reddish hair huddled against the cold as his teeth chattered audibly. It was a very young kit that was burrowed down under a fallen tree where he'd cleared the snow into a sort of burrow. Seeing the brat half frozen and on his own convinced Inuyasha that he was alone and, for whatever reason, his parents weren't around.

After waiting a moment for the brat to snuggle down into his little burrow and bury his face into his bushy tail, Inuyasha crept slowly forward. He slipped unnoticed toward the fallen log, as stealthily and silently as the environment and his wound would allow, which, due to his heritage, turned out to be quite sneaky. He perched himself on the log above the kit and reached down one hand, plucking the brat out of his makeshift burrow by his fluffy tail. The kit's reaction was instantaneous as a growl ripped from his throat and his little arms and legs began flailing and trashing as he tried to free himself.

"Lemme go you stinking wolf!" The little kit growled out, eyes squeezed tightly shut as his fists met nothing but air. He was so small, Inuyasha didn't even have to hold him at a full arms length.

"Shut the fuck up, brat!" Inuyasha snapped as he bonked the kit on the head, and not lightly if the lump that raised up was any indication. He wasn't in the mood to put up with any shit, the brat _would_talk and quickly. He wasn't surprised when the kit stopped flailing and rubbed his tiny, clawed hands across his head as tears threatened to spill from his emerald orbs.

"Hidoi..." He sniffled as his hands rubbed the sore spot. Sure he had suffered worse treatment by the wolves who wanted to cook him up for dinner, but a dog with such a terrible wound shouldn't be picking on a kid just because he was too weak to defend himself. At least, this is what went through the kit's mind as he sniffled and fixed a glare up at the blood-stained, silver-haired dog holding into his poor tail.

"Quit sniveling and tell me where the fuck my mate is!" Inuyasha growled out, already annoyed at how long it was talking the kid to talk. He held up one clawed hand to indicate what would happen to the little brat if he didn't hurry the fuck up.

"How should I know? I don't know your mate." The kit squeaked out, eying the sharp claws that were being slowly drawn in as a warning growl sounded in the back of Inuyasha's throat.

"The hell you don't!" Inuyasha shouted angrily as red began to bleed into his eyes. "Her scent is all over you!"

"You mean that miko girl?" The kit asked nervously as he watched the red start to subside slowly. He had seen his father's eyes bleed red like that right before he transformed into a vicious, feral looking fox. This was, of course, after they'd siphoned enough life energy from the humans that had been hiding in the attic and regained their bodies.

He remembered a time when a group of humans came into their borrow and how angry his parents had been about it. One of the females, the obvious alpha female, had filled the air with some foul smelling stuff that stung his eyes and burned his nose. His family had picked up and moved any time it seemed those horrible humans would come back. He hadn't known why they had stayed so close to the humans until later when they had absorbed enough latent life energy from them an gained their true forms.

"Yes!" Inuyasha snapped angrily, patience something he never possessed much of was slipping away quickly. If he weren't so desperate for the information, he'd have either killed the brat or left him to the wilderness already. "Tell me where the fuck she is already!"

"She-she's in the mountains!" The kit squeaked in fear as he curled in as much of a ball as he could hanging from the dog's hand. His little paws were pressed down over his ears and eyes were squeezed shut tight. "She-she helped me escape!"

"You're gonna lead me to her, brat!" Inuyasha barked as he glared at the tiny kit, his injuries forgotten in the light of finding his claimed mate.

"What?" The kit squeaked out as sheer terror rippled through his body. "You're nuts if you think I'm going back there! Do you 'know' how many wolves there are in there?"

"I don't give a flying fuck how many wimpy fucking wolves there are!" Inuyasha spat out angrily as red began to bleed into his eyes once more. "You're gonna show me where the fuck she is!"

It was not a question, it was a command from a stronger being. One the poor little kit had no option of disobeying no matter how terrified he was of the wolves. It was suicide to go back into that den, especially with that human girl down deep in the mountain. There was no chance of the dog holding him by the tail going in and coming back out, especially with the injury that was visible. Still, he had no choice but to do as he was told. The kitsune kit went limp in Inuyasha's hand and nodded his head in assent, which sparked a smirk to spread slowly across Inuyasha's face as he tucked the kit under one arm and took off into the snow, his makeshift crutch left behind as the pain became a dull thud in his mind.

- l - l - l -

Miroku grunted in discomfort as Sango shoved him from below to get him up the ladder. Ryo stood above him, pulling on his arms to hoist him up into their attic hideout. Miroku hated this weak feeling that spread through his whole body, but at least he knew what they were dealing with now. His limbs felt like jelly and his head was a bit fuzzy as his eyes slid down, wanting to close and sink into the comforting embrace of sleep. But no, not just yet. Some things needed to be discussed before he could get some shut eye.

With one more grunt and a great heave from Sango below, whose lovely delicate hands were deliciousness cupping his backside, Miroku was finally pulled up into the attic. He lamented the loss of those delicate hands touching him, but allowed Ryo to lead him several feet away from the trap door to one of the few chairs that they'd found in the attic. He sunk down into the chair and gave Ryo a grateful nod as his listened to the almost silent footsteps as Sango ascended the stairs to join them.

"So what the hell happened out there?" Tetsuyo demanded angrily, his speech completely steady from his lack of any sake in his system. Miroku was glad to see that the man had finally set the stuff aside, but greatly annoyed at his grumpy attitude at the lack of said sake in his system.

"Are you all right, Miroku-san?" Ryo asked, his eyebrows drawn down in concern.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired." Miroku admitted quietly as he gave the kid a reassuring smile.

"So did your little 'disappearing act' work?" Tetsuyo asked snidely as he rolled his eyes, apparently still a non-believer. Miroku only smirked tiredly as he looked up at the older man.

"Actually, yes. It was a complete success." Miroku said lazily as he leaned his head back and sighed in contentment. It wasn't the most comfortable chair in the world, but in the aftermath of such a success, it felt like a throne to him at the moment.

"You mean you actually disappeared?" Ryo asked, his eyes widening in surprise and admiration.

"In a manner of speaking. I was able to shield our bodies and auras with spiritual power." Miroku explained softly with a knowing look filling his tired gaze.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tetsuyo growled in annoyance as he rubbed his temples. Sachiko slapped him upside the head and turned a nasty glare at him.

"Watch your mouth! Miroku just saved our asses, somehow!" She stated seriously as she turned her gaze toward the rest of the occupants of the room. "I couldn't see anything around us, but that toad thing and that... man couldn't see us. We weren't more than a few feet from them and they looked right passed us." She had no way to put into words the feeling of stark terror and vulnerability she'd felt when the man with long silver hair had found the frog thing.

"So you have something to use against them, but what are they and how the where the hell did they come from?" Sango asked as she settled onto the ground cross-legged at Miroku's right side. A small almost amused smirk filled Miroku's tired features as he looked at the tall, seated woman. A smirk that said he knew what they are and how they'd gotten here now that his suspicions had been confirmed.

"Do you remember the old ink paintings you see of monsters devouring people or destroying things?" Miroku asked leisurely, waiting for the nods from the people listening, an impatient one from Tetsuyo. "Well, those aren't pictures of hell, that's what they actually saw back in the feudal era. There were monsters that were in constant battle with the humans."

"Humph! Yeah right." Tetsuyo snorted while crossing his arms over his chest. Besides being grouchy from alcohol withdrawal, he was acting pissy since he was seated on the floor. "And they also had crazy stories for why the sun rose and why the grass was wet in the morning."

"That may be true, but in this respect, the paintings are accurate." Miroku explained calmly, no thrown off at all by Tetsuyo's skepticism. "They're called youkai, also called demons or just plain monster. The scrolls I found spoke briefly of them being mostly animalistic but the most deadly could appear human."

"So that man we saw?" Sango asked, one delicate eyebrow raised in question.

"He was a youkai, from his aura I'd say we were lucky he didn't feel threatened or we'd have been dead before we knew he'd attacked." Miroku explained, his carefree facade melting into seriousness instantaneously. "The scroll stated that around five hundred years ago, a very powerful priestess created a seal that subdued all youkai and banished them to eternal sleep."

"Wait, you mean like that little shrine that we saw in the woods with Kagome?" Sango questioned as she recalled several weeks prior the strange black smoke that had billowed out of a tiny shrine house at the base of a tree. It had struck her as odd to see a tiny shrine in such a remote location, especially with the strange events that happened afterward. That was the day of the winter solstice, a day that she normally didn't even note, but that seemed to be when it all started... The black smoke, Kagome's wrists being sliced open and her almost bleeding to death, and the animals becoming crazed and attacking people.

"I suppose that could have housed a seal of that power." Miroku said thoughtfully as he was picturing that night in his mind, it replayed vividly in his head and made his anger burn at his inability to protect her. "The scroll didn't say where or how the priestess sealed them or how the seal could be broken. The only thing it mentions about the priestess is her name, Midoriko."

"Wait, I think I heard Kagome's grandfather mention a priestess named Midoriko before!" Sango cried as she sprang to her feet. "He used to go on and on about her, and something called the Shikon no Tama!"

"I'd forgotten..." Miroku said softly as his eyes widened in remembrance. The old man had been sick for so long now, and the fact that most of the time the man spent chasing him down and plastering him with sutras for his _cursed_ hand, he had completely forgotten his story of the Shikon no Tama. "No wonder her name sounded family when I first read the scroll. He said that Midoriko was the ancestor of the Higurashi's, didn't he?"

"Yes, he said that they were descended from her and that she was the protector of a powerful jewel that disappeared when she died." Sango said as she gripped his hand with her shaking one.

"I don't think this was a coincidence..." Miroku said darkly as he squeezed her hand back reassuringly as he glared at nothing in particular. "Kagome wondering off in the woods was odd and when we found her, I don't think she could hear us at all. She looked so out of it."

"Are you saying that dead girl is what caused all of this shit?" Tetsuyo snapped as he listened in on their conversation, his eyes narrowing dangerously with every word.

"She's not dead!" Sango snapped back angrily as she turned an evil glare on Tetsuyo, but the effect was spoiled somewhat by the tears she felt brimming in her eyes.

"You saw the same thing we saw. That wolf dragged her away... the same as Ryo's father." Sachiko said quietly with her eyes lowered and an apologetic look toward Ryo for the mention of his late father.

"Kagome wouldn't give up without a fight. I know she's still alive, that girl is too stubborn to die like that." Sango said firmly, she didn't noticed the doubtful and sorrowful look that Miroku cast up at her tense form.

"Either way, I think something bigger is going on here. Kagome is a part of it." Miroku went silent for several minutes as he tried to formulate a plan. As unlikely as he thought it was that Kagome survived, something was pulling on his consciousness and telling him that they needed to go find her. It was a feeling he was finding harder and harder to fight as the days wore on. When he lifted his eyes to look to Sango he was met with a look of hope on her perfect features that had been absent for quite some time and it synched his decision before him. He nodded to Sango and a small smile turned up the corner of his mouth.

"We're going to help you all get out of here as we promised, but-" Miroku started before he was cut off. His eyes remained fixated on Sango's beaming face.

"What do you mean 'but'?" Sachiko demanded sharply as she glared at Miroku. "You said you'd get us to safety!" Miroku gave her an apologetic smile before continuing with what he'd been saying.

"Sango and I are staying behind to find Kagome." Miroku stated calmly, seeming to ignore the chaos that ensued at his pronouncement.

"What do you mean you're staying behind!" Sachiko cried as she bounced to her feet, fear slipping into her carefully placed indifferent mask. She had put the mask in place when the silver haired youkai in the forest had left so she could numb her fear and not freak out before they returned. It slipped further and crumbled within moments as everyone spoke over everyone else trying to be heard. Tetsuyo sat with a rather self-satisfied look on his face while three other voices filled the air with complaints and reasons they needed his guidance.

"We don't stand a chance without you!" Ryo said in a hiss as he glared at the man he'd started to idolize, betrayal burning in his gut. "How are we supposed to stay safe without you?"

"Have you noticed that since Kagome was taken, there haven't been any more attempts by them to break into the attic?" Miroku asked quietly, his calm demeanor immediately making any more arguments stick in their throats.

"I-I didn't even notice..." Sango said quietly as it suddenly dawned on her that Miroku was correct. Sure, they'd had some weak ones try to trick their way in and they'd had that run-in with the foxes but... they hadn't seen the white wolf at all since he yanked Kagome out of the attic.

"What does it matter?" Tetsuyo growled out in annoyance and irritation as he rolled his eyes. "That girl has been dead for the last month."

"No." Miroku disagreed as he made eye contact with Tetsuyo, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "More and more I'm thinking she's still alive. She's the key to everything and Sango and I _have_to find her."

**::FIN::**

July 30, 2012

**Notes**: Meh, couldn't think of a good chapter title for this... I hope you enjoyed it, the rescue should be in the next chapter and Sango and Miroku will be finding out Kagome is still alive soon. Can't wait for the confrontation between Miroku and Inuyasha, that's gonna be FUN! Anyway, I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it!


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